Family matters
by liqouricewhip
Summary: A real world Josh Scott AU Tale! Things weren't looking good for ten year old Josh Scott. Having escaped from The Right Path orphanage, he had no where to go and no food. Starving and out of options, he decides to rob the wrong house, filled with the wrong family. But can two wrongs make a right?
1. Break in

A/N Don't mind this story. It's just something I had stuck in my head. Don't read, if you don't like real world AU's

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**_Crash! _**

The sound of a window breaking makes Ralph jump out of bed. He quickly grabs the bat from his closet, and runs down stairs. He stops at the bottom of the stairs. Looking at the living room, he sees that glass covers the ground, making it nearly impossible to walk anywhere in the living room, but Ralph tiptoes across the floor anyways. He spots a rock just a foot away from the broken window. picking it up he sighs. This wasn't exactly the nicest neighborhood, but no one around her would do this. He opens the window, and throws the rock into the lawn.

"Who would do that?" He asks himself, closing the window. Music starts blasting from upstairs, making him jump, and slip on the glass, quickly though he jumps to his feet, biting his lip while doing so. He hops toward the stairs. He tries running, but trips, thanks to the glass in his feet. He falls onto the stairs, and drops the bat. The music is turned up. Ralph drags himself up the stairs. He tries pushing with his feet, but any pressure makes him wince.

When he makes it to the top he sees Vanellope standing outside her door, covering her ears. "What the heck's going on?" Vanellope yells, over the music. Ralph forces himself to his feet, and leans down next to her ear, he pulls her hand down, and leans closer to her ear.  
"Go back to bed. I'm handling it." Ralph says, calmly, nudging her into her room. Vanellope walks back to her bed. Ralph closes the door, and limps down the hallway, to the room where the music is coming from.

slowly, he opens the door, music fills the hallway, making Ralph cover his ears. He sees the window at the other end of the room open. Limping to the window, he shuts off the music, makes it to the window, and shuts it. "Who the heck..." He begins. Felix screams. Ralph limps as fast as he can, out of the room, back down the hallway. He looks down the stairs, and sees Felix stumble out of the kitchen, over the couch, and onto the ground.

Ralph hops down the stairs, having a panic attack. Felix jumps to his feet. Ralph stops, when he sees that Felix is covered in red goo.  
"Is that blood? And who the heck is in there?" Ralph asks, hopping next to Felix.  
"It's not blood! And I don't know!" Felix says, loudly. Something in the kitchen slams. Ralph covers Felix's mouth, and puts a finger up to his lips, shushing Felix.

Ralph looks at the kitchen door. It sways, forward and backwards, not fully closed. Ralph walks on his tip toes, towards the door. He opens it, and peeks his head inside. "Hello?" There's no response, so he limps in.  
"Careful. He's dangerous." Felix whispers, hiding behind Ralph.

Ralph shakes his head, looks around the kitchen. Light from the fridge makes Ralph notice the fridge door is ajar. He walks carefully on his tiptoes, and closes it, rather loudly, making Felix jump. Ralph's eyes dart around the kitchen. One of the cupboards open for a split second, then closes just as quickly.

Ralph limps over. He reaches out for the handle, on the cupboard. Felix grabs his arm, stopping him. Felix shakes his head.  
"He's dangerous." Felix whispers, clearly afraid, of the intruder.  
"He can fit in this cupboard. How dangerous can he be?" Ralph says, shaking Felix's arm off. He opens the cupboard, and is immediately bombarded by the red goo. He falls backwards, and smashes onto the ground. The intruder jumps out of the cupboard, making Felix flinch away. He runs past Felix, jumps over Ralph, and runs out of the kitchen. Ralph sits up, and licks some of the red goo off of his lips.  
"Ketchup?" He forces himself to his feet again, and follows the intruder.

The intruder unlocks the door, and runs out. Turning down the sidewalk, he looks back, and sees Calhoun chasing him. She starts gaining on him, rather quickly. He pulls the ketchup bottle out of his backpack, aims it at the ground, and squeezes, making the ketchup cover the ground. Calhoun jumps over the ketchup, barley makes it, and trips on the last bit of ketchup. She reaches out, and grabs the kids leg, tripping him. He kicks his leg, trying to get loose, losing one of his flip flops in the process. "Let go crazy lady!" He yells, still kicking.

Calhoun pulls him towards her. He tries digging his nails into the sidewalk, to stop himself, but to no avail. He then tries dragging himself forward, but thanks to his lack of upper body strength, Calhoun has gotten a hold of him, pushes herself to her feet, and has started dragging him back to the house. He doesn't stop struggling though. Luckily, well not lucky for the kid, but lucky for the others, Ralph shows up, and grabs the kids arms.  
"Just let me go!" Josh orders, still kicking his legs, and yanking his arms. Ralph and Calhoun ignore him, and carry him back to the house.

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A/N There is chapter 1. Thank you, if you actually read this. If you did, please let me know what you think! You don't have to, but I would love it if you did. Sorry for any grammar or spelling errors!


	2. Settling Matters

A/N Okay! I hope your liking the story! I am. Here is chapter two!

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_**Settling matters **_

Felix sweeps all the glass into a pile. He gets it all into a box. Wiping his his forehead, he sighs. He pushes the box into a corner for the time being, until he gets the time to throw it out. Just as he does, Calhoun and Ralph burst into the house, carrying the kid. Felix watches them bring him in, and put him on the couch. The kid is instantly onto his feet, and is running for the door, but is instantly stopped, picked up, and thrown back onto the couch, by Calhoun. She picks up the bat Ralph dropped earlier, and thrusts it into the kids chest making him wince. Ralph bites his lip.

"Alright. Who are you, and why did you break into our house?" Calhoun asks, angrily. The kid looks around the room. He spots a 'Handy man of the year' award hanging on the wall. He looks back at Calhoun, who stares at him, with a frightening glare. "Felix." He says, lifting his chip up. Felix looks up at the kid.  
"Yes?" Felix says. The kid shakes his head.

"No. My name is Felix." The kid says, looking at Felix. Felix leans the broom against the wall, and walks over, cheerfully, he stretches out his hand to shake the kids. The kid reaches out, and shakes it.  
"Well. Nice to meet you Felix! My name is also Felix!" Felix says, happily. Calhoun rolls her eyes and slaps Felix's hand, making him let go. Felix rubs his hand, and looks up at her startled by her outburst. "His name is not Felix. He just saw the award on the wall." Calhoun says, not at all surprised, by Felix's immediate trust for the kid.

She glares at the kid again. "What is your name? And don't lie." Calhoun says, thrusting the bat into the kids chest again. He pushes the bat away, and glares back at Calhoun. "Fine. It's Josh." Josh says. Calhoun lowers the bat. Ralph rubs the back of his head.  
"Okay. Josh. Why did you break into our house?" Calhoun asks, a little more calmly. Josh takes the backpack off his back, and throws it onto the floor, in front of Calhoun. She hands the bat to Ralph. She picks the backpack up, and opens it, she then dumps the items out. Half a loaf of bread, some baloney, ham, and of course the ketchup and mustard, lay on the couch next to Josh.

Josh crosses his arms, and looks at the wall to his left, away from the food. Ralph looks down at the bag, that Calhoun has dropped on the ground. He hands the bat back to Calhoun, and picks up the backpack. He narrows his eyes, and waves the bag in the air.  
"This is Vanellope's backpack." He says, angrily. Josh looks further away, towards the stairs. Felix inches his way, to the couch, and picks up the loaf of bread, looking it over, he notices it's from their cupboard. He holds the bread up to Ralph. Ralph looks at it.  
"This is from our cupboard. The one he was hiding in." Felix says. Josh glares at Felix.  
"I wasn't hiding. I was waiting." Josh spits. Calhoun hits him in the stomach, with the end of the bat again, making him keel over.

Ralph take the bat away from her. "Would you stop that?" Ralph says. Calhoun scowls.  
"Why? He's just some no good kid from the street." Calhoun says. Ralph sighs.  
"Just go back to bed. Me and Felix will handle this." He says, a little worried for Josh's safety. Calhoun looks at Josh, then back at Ralph. She shakes her head, and reluctantly walks back to her room.

Ralph looks at the food on the couch. He kneels down, and picks up the baloney. Felix looks at Ralph, wondering what he's going to do next. Ralph picks up the rest of the food, and takes it back to the kitchen. Josh looks down at the ground, avoiding any eye contact. Felix sits down next to Josh, to lecture him, of course.

"Stealing is wrong." Is the first thing out of Felix's mouth, making Josh roll his eyes. Josh must have gotten this speech a hundred times, and Felix must know that, but he continues anyway. Josh just stares out the broken window, ignoring Felix.

Ralph limps back into the living room, sandwich in hand. He stops next to Josh, and hold the sandwich out to him. Josh looks away, but even Ralph can hear Josh's stomach growl. Josh takes the sandwich, mumbles a thanks, and devours the sandwich, it's gone within a few seconds, surprising Ralph and Felix.

"Sheesh. When was the last time you ate?" Ralph asks. Josh tilts his head, thinking.  
"It's been a while." Josh says, shrugging. Felix shakes his head.  
"What kind of parents wouldn't feed their kid?" Felix asks. Josh bites his lip, and looks away. Ralph sits down, on the other side of Josh, opposite from Felix.

"Where do you live? I can take you home." Ralph says. Josh sighs.  
"I...I don't have a home exactly." Josh says, looking at the floor. Ralph looks over at Felix.  
"What do we do?" Ralph mouths, so Josh can't hear.  
"I don't know. We have to do something." Felix mouths back.  
"What are we supposed to do?" Ralph mouths back. They continue mouthing back and forth, distracted by each other, they don't notice Vanellope hopping down the stairs. She walks over to the couch, in front of the couch, and stops in front of Josh.

"Hello! I'm Vanellope!" She says cheerfully. Ralph and Felix look down at Vanellope.  
"Vanellope go back to bed. We're handling it." Ralph says. Vanellope ignores him, and keeps her attention on Josh.  
"So. I told you my name. What's yours?" She asks.  
"Josh. Josh Scott." Josh says. Vanellope sticks her hand out. Josh hesitates, before taking it. Vanellope rapidly shakes his hand.  
"Okay. You met him. Now go back to bed." Ralph orders. Vanellope crosses her arms, and starts pouting. Ralph shakes his head.  
"Not going to work." Ralph says, turning his attention back to Josh. Vanellope rolls her eyes, and walks back to her room, upstairs.  
"Where do you sleep then?" Ralph asks, making Josh laugh. Ralph narrows his eyes. "What's so funny?" Ralph asks, confused.  
"Who sleeps?" Josh asks, still laughing a bit. Ralph frowns.  
"So you have no where to sleep?"  
"Not exactly. I saw a park bench a couple miles back." Josh says, sliding off the couch. Ralph picks him up, and places him back on the couch. Ralph rubs the top of his nose. "I guess, you'll just have to stay here tonight. We'll figure out what to do with you in the morning." Ralph says, yawning. Felix covers his mouth, and yawns as well. He slides off the couch, says good night, and heads to his and Calhoun's room. Ralph brings Josh up stairs, to the guest room.

Ralph opens the door, allowing Josh walk in. Josh stops in half way through the door, looking at the room, he takes in a deep breath.  
"Wow. Is this the master bedroom or something?" Josh asks, looking up at Ralph, surprised by such a large room. Ralph shakes his head.  
"No. This is the guest bedroom." Ralph says. Josh tilts his head.  
"But it's so big." Ralph sighs.  
"Just try and get some sleep. We'll talk to you in the morning." Ralph says. Josh walks over to the bed, and looks it over. He looks under it, then jumps onto it.  
"This bed. I like it." Josh says, sweeping his hand across the top. Ralph nods his head.  
"Okay. I'll see you in the morning." Ralph says, closing the door.

Josh lays down for a while, when he's sure Ralph is asleep, he slides off the bed, and heads for the door, planning on being gone, before dawn. Opening it, he jumps back, and grabs his chest.  
"You scared the crap outta me." Josh whispers. Vanellope crosses her arms.  
"Where ya going?" She asks, narrowing her eyes. Josh opens his mouth, and rubs the back of his head.  
"Uhh. Just to the bathroom." Josh says, nervously.  
"Oh okay! I can show you where it is!" Vanellope says, perking up.  
"No! I mean, I can find it." Josh says, waving his hands. Vanellope shakes her head.

"So, you know where our bathroom is then?" She asks.  
"Wellll. Not exactly." Josh says.  
"Okay! I'll show you then." Vanellope walks down the hall. she stops a couple feet away, and waves her hand at Josh.  
"Well. Let's go." She says. Josh sighs. He follows her down the hall.

She leads him down the stairs, through the kitchen door, and over to the fridge. Josh crosses his arms, as she opens the fridge. "I thought you were taking me to the bathroom." Josh says.  
"I was. But then I got hungry." Vanellope says, taking a couple slices of baloney from the fridge. She grins at Josh.  
"Okay. I'll find it on my own." Josh says, walking out of the kitchen. Vanellope shrugs, as she chews on the baloney.

Josh closes the kitchen door behind him. He looks at the front door. "Nice to meet you all." Josh whispers, as he walks over to the door. But as he's about to open the door, something stops him. He looks back at the kitchen door. Vanellope leans on the doorframe, slowly chewing the baloney. She raises an eyebrow.  
"Going somewhere?" She asks.  
"Not with you watching me. No." Josh says, letting go of the doorknob.

Josh places his hands behind his back, and slowly walks up the stairs. Vanellope watches him, still chewing the baloney. He nods, and walks back into the guest room. Vanellope walks up the stairs, and back into her room.

Josh groans, and collapses onto the bed. "Guess I'm stuck here for the night." He mutters. Closing his eyes, trying to sleep, but he can't. So he lays still, silent, and worried about what these people are going to do with him. 'Will they send me back to the orphanage? No. They don't even know where I came from. Turn me into the police? Probably. Shoot.' All possible outcomes like these, cross Josh's mind. Eventually though, somehow he manages to get to sleep.

**_The next morning_**

Ralph puts the bowl of cereal in front of Vanellope, who gladly accepts, and eats it. Felix places a plate of hash browns and eggs down on the table, for Calhoun. Ralph looks up at the clock, then to the kitchen door. "It's almost ten. Why isn't he awake yet?" Ralph asks, no one in particular.

Vanellope looks up from her now empty bowl. "He was awake forever last night." She says. Ralph looks at her, and raises an eyebrow.  
"How do you know that? Were you spying on him or something?" He asks. Vanellope shakes her head.  
"He got up to use the bathroom, but he didn't even use the bathroom." She says, poking at the bowl with her spoon. Ralph takes the bowl, and gets her more cereal. He gives the bowl back, and she starts eating again. "I'll go and wake him up!" Felix says, in his usual cheerful tone. Ralph watches Felix march out of the kitchen, and turn towards the stairs. Ralph serves himself some hash browns, and sits down at the table, next to Vanellope.

Felix returns a couple minutes later, with Josh. Felix serves Josh some hash browns. Josh sits down at the table, across from Ralph, and devours the hash browns. Felix covers his mouths.  
"Haven't you hear of a fork young man?" Felix asks. Josh licks his fingers, and shakes his head. He continues eating his food.

The smell of hash browns wakes Calhoun up. She slides out of bed, pulls her jogging pants, and t-shirt on, and heads for the front door, yawning again, she walks past the kitchen, to the front door. She opens the door, just as the news paper land on the porch. She picks it up, and looks at the front page. Her jaw drops. "That little..." She storms back into the house, into the kitchen, and throws the newspaper down in front of Ralph.

Ralph picks it up, and looks it over. He narrows his eyes.  
"Vanellope. Why don't you show Josh your game boy, or something." Ralph says. Vanellope nods her head. She jumps off the chair, walks towards the kitchen door, and calls Josh over. He follows her, out of the kitchen up the stairs, and into her room.

Toys scattered on the floor, a couple video game posters on the wall, a bunk bed, with the top bunk covered in clothing, Josh's eyes shoot over to the giant television on the wall. Not exactly a room you'd expect a nine year old girl to have. Josh nods in approval.

"Awesome room." Josh says, looking at Vanellope's room. Vanellope nods.  
"Yeah. I like it." She says.

She leads Josh through the room, over to one of the three boxes that line of of the walls. She opens the box, and digs through it. Finally she pulls out and old game boy color. "My dad gave this to me last year." She says, handing it to Josh.

Josh turns it in his hands, until he finds the on button. He turns it on, and flips the screen to him. Within seconds he's playing Pokemon. Vanellope seems amused, by Josh's intense focus for the game. Josh groans, and throws the game onto the bed. "I lost." He says, making Vanellope laugh. She shows him a couple more games, on her xbox, playstation, and wii. Josh seems to be enjoying himself, but Vanellope notices he hasn't even smiled once. She shrugs it off, and keeps showing him around her room.

Ralph puts the newspaper down, and rubs his eyes. Felix take the paper, looks at it, and reads it. "Lost boy, Josh Scott, ten years old, ran away from On The Right Path orphanage. Black hair, green eyes, will defend self. Please inform authorities if spotted." Felix puts the paper down. Even a picture of Josh is posted on the front. "So, what are you going to do about it?" Calhoun asks Ralph.

Ralph sighs, and shakes his head.  
"I don't know. Not yet anyways. He must have a good reason for running away." Ralph says. Calhoun crosses her arms.  
"Your taking him back though, right?" She says. Ralph shrugs.  
"Do we really have a choice?"  
"You actually do. He is an orphan." Felix says. Ralph raises an eyebrow.  
"What do you mean?"  
"I mean, he has no family...there's always..." Felix begins.  
"No! You are not adopting him!" Calhoun says. Ralph nods his head.  
"We barely have enough room for us." Ralph says. Felix nods as well. Calhoun walks out of the kitchen.

She returns a minute later, with a laptop. She opens it, and starts searching the web. Ralph and Felix eat silently. She turns the laptop towards Ralph, he squints, and looks at the screen. On the screen is a map. Showing the location of the orphanage. Ralph nods. He finishes his food, and puts the dishes away. "So, how are we going to do this?" Ralph asks.  
"Simple. We drag him back." Calhoun says. Ralph shakes his head.  
"We can't drag him half way across the country." He says. Calhoun rolls her eyes.  
"We don't actually drag him. We drive him there, and dump him off." She says.  
"It sounds like a good idea, but I don't think he'll just go with us willingly." Felix says. Ralph crosses his arms.  
"Your right. How do we convince him to come with us?" He asks. Calhoun snaps her fingers.  
"We tell him were going on a road trip. We say, we can't just leave him hear alone, so he has to come with us." She says. Felix frowns.  
"You mean we lie to him? That's not a very nice thing to do."  
"He attacked us with ketchup. Nice is the last thing I'm worried about." Felix rubs the back of his head, not liking this idea at all, but knows he can't change Calhoun's mind.

Josh and Vanellope run into the kitchen. The adults look at them. "I beat him!" Vanellope yells, happily. Josh shakes his head.  
"Just barely." He says.  
"I beat you by like twenty-two kills." She says, sticking her tongue out. Ralph claps his hands together.  
"Okay! Time for a road trip!" He says, loudly. Vanellope tilts her head.  
"What road trip?" She asks. Ralph crosses his arms.  
"Our first annual summer road trip." He says.  
"Where are we going?" Ralph kneels down next to her, and with a big grin says,  
"Everywhere." Vanellope claps excitedly. But stops almost instantly.  
"What about Josh?" She asks, looking at said person. Ralph stands up straight. He looks at Calhoun, who nods. Ralph sighs.  
"He's coming with us."

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A/N Chapter two done! I hope you liked it! If you have the time, please let me know what you think!


	3. Start of a story

A/N Glad you guys are liking it! Here's chapter 3.

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Vanellope throws her game-boy, ds, psp, and chargers for all into her backpack, along with several other portable items. She throws the backpack over her shoulder, and runs out of her room, down the stairs, and out to the van. "I'm ready!" She yells, excitedly, throwing her backpack into the trunk. Ralph grabs the backpack, and opens it. He shows it to her, confused.  
"Why didn't you pack any clothes?" He asks. Vanellope shrugs.  
"You can always just buy me clothes from where ever we're going." She says. Ralph rolls his eyes, and hands the backpack to her.  
"Go pack some clothes." He orders. Vanellope groans, grabs her backpack, and runs back into the house. She runs past Josh. He watches her run up the stairs, before walking out the front door. Ralph sees him walking over, so he waves. Josh looks behind himself, then back at Ralph, who waves again. Josh slowly raises his hand, and waves back. "Well. Are you ready?" Ralph asks. Josh narrows his eyes.  
"Why are you taking me?" Josh asks, a little more harshly than he intended.  
"We couldn't just leave you here. That's it." Ralph snaps, turning his attention back to the van.

"Not like you have anywhere to go anyways." Calhoun says, walking past Josh. She throws her backpack into the trunk, and walks to the front. She gets into the drivers seat, and slams the door, making Ralph flinch. Thanks to last nights ordeals, injuries, lack of sleep, things like that, Ralph can't drive, Felix has bandaged Ralph's feet up, which helps little to none.

Felix walks out of the house, a suit case, and a couple backpacks in hand. He brings them to the trunk, and carefully puts them in. He closes the trunk, he pats himself down. "Oops forgot something." He says, cheerfully. He turns, and runs back into the house.

"Okay! I got some clothes!" Vanellope yells, running out of the house. Ralph takes the backpack from her, and looks inside. He nods in approval, and puts the backpack in the van. Vanellope jumps into the van. She looks at Josh expectantly. Josh looks down the street, and back at the van. Ralph hops into the passengers seat, buckles up, looking at Josh, he gestures for him to get in. Josh looks down the street again, not entirely trusting of these people, who just decided to take him along. He shakes his head. _"What's the worst they can do? Take me back to the orphanage. Fat chance._" Josh thinks to himself.

Josh takes in a deep breath, and climbs into the van. Vanellope pats the seat next to her, asking him to sit. Josh shakes his head, and climbs past her, onto the backseat. He sits down next to the window, and buckles himself in. Vanellope shakes her head. She pulls out her game-boy and starts playing Pokemon.  
"Okay! Let's go!" Ralph says excitedly, starting the car, for Calhoun. She pulls out of the driveway, and turns left.  
"It was a right out of the driveway." Ralph says, after a couple minutes. Calhoun sighs, and hits her head on the steering wheel.  
"This is going to be a loooonggg ride." Vanellope says, keeping her attention on her game-boy.

Calhoun turns around, and heads back the other way, as they pass the house, Josh sees Felix closing the door of the house, and running after the van. Josh shakes his head, and leans his head on the window. Ralph looks at the rear view mirror, and sees Felix running after them. "We forgot Felix." Ralph says, calmly, pointing at the mirror. Calhoun slams on the break, making everyone fly forward. Vanellope's game-boy drops onto the ground, and slides under the drivers seat.  
"Aww man! I was in the middle of a battle!" Vanellope yells, crossing her arms.

Josh pulls the seatbelt down. He glares at Calhoun, who has started backing up for Felix. Ralph reaches under the drivers seat, and grabs Vanellope's game boy, he tries handing it to her, but she has already pulled out her Nintendo ds. Ralph sighs, and puts the game-boy onto the seat next to Vanellope.

Felix opens the side door, and jumps in next to Vanellope.  
"Sorry everybody! I forgot my pocket watch!" Felix says, pulling said pocket watch, out of his front shirt pocket. Josh looks over Felix's shoulder, as he opens the golden pocket watch. Under the "watch" part of the pocket watch, Josh sees a picture of all four of them, standing together, dressed up, with big toothy smiles, even Calhoun. Josh sighs, and turns his attention back out the window.

They drive for a while, when Josh's stomach starts growling, Felix turns his head to him. "You know. I'm absolutely famished. Mind if we stop for something to eat?" Felix says. Ralph smiles.  
"Couldn't hurt." He says, shrugging. Josh nods at Felix.

Felix turns back forward. Vanellope starts bouncing up and down in her seat. "Dairy queen! Dairy queen!" She chants. Ralph rolls his eyes.  
"What you thinking Josh?" Ralph asks. Josh shrugs.  
"Dairy queen sounds fine." He says, face emotionless, yelling happily on the inside. Calhoun pulls out her phone. She searches for Dairy queen. Soon she finds a map, so she drives everyone to the nearest Dairy queen.

"Okay! Drive-thru or inside?" Ralph asks.  
"Inside! Inside!" Vanellope chants. Ralph nods his head. Calhoun sighs. She pulls into the parking lot of Diary queen. Vanellope jumps over Felix, throws the door open, and runs to Diary queen.

By the time everyone else is out of the van, Vanellope is already running around the fast food restaurant. Ralph shakes his head happily. He walks towards the restaurant, followed by Felix and Calhoun. Josh begins following them, but something to the right, catches his eye. He watches the others enter Dairy queen.  
"I'll catch up." Josh whispers. He runs over to the gas station across the street.

Vanellope runs around Ralph's legs avoiding his reach, giggling, eyes closed, she runs straight into Calhoun's legs, and falls back onto the ground. Ralph picks her up, wraps his arms around her.  
"Gotcha!" He says, chuckling. Vanellope struggles in his grasp. She manages to get loose, and climb up to his shoulder.

She looks around Dairy queen. "Where's Josh?" She asks. Ralph breathes heavily, turning his head. "I...uhhh. I don't know." He says, scratching his head. Calhoun crosses her arms. "Great. He split." She says. Just then, Josh walks into Dairy queen. Chocolate bar, and root beer in hand. Vanellope points at Josh. They all look at him. "Where did you get that stuff?" Ralph asks. Josh swallows the piece of chocolate in his mouth.  
"There's a gas station over there." Josh says, pointing at it with the chocolate bar.

Ralph looks over at the gas station, another question comes to mind. He looks back at Josh.  
"Where did you get the money for that stuff?" He asks, worried that he might have stolen it.  
"Money? I didn't have any money." Josh says. Ralph groans, and kneels down next to Josh.  
"So you stole it?" Josh shakes his head.  
"No. I got them to give it to me." Josh says. Ralph raises an eyebrow.  
"How did you do that?" Josh frowns, and grasps his stomach.  
"Please. I'm so hungry. I haven't eaten in days." Josh says, almost on the verge of tears. One of the cashiers over hears this. She grasps her chest.  
"Awww. You poor thing! Let me get you something to eat." She says. Ralph waves his hand.  
"No. He's with us." Ralph says, surprised by Josh's influence on the lady. The cashier lowers her hand.  
"He's so sweet. Okay. What can I get you all?" She asks. Ralph takes the kids up the the register.  
"Alright. What do you two want?" He asks. Josh tilts his head.  
"Can I get anything?" Ralph nods his head.  
"Yup. Anything you want." Josh nods his head slowly, and looks up at the menu.

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A/N I hope this chapter was up to your standards. Anyways thanks for reading this chapter. Please let me know what you think, you know, if you have the time. Hopefully...*cough* Yup.


	4. Lunch time

A/N Yay! Chapter 4! Let's join the "happy" bunch for lunch!

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_**Lunch time**_

Vanellope counts down from three. When she reaches zero, her and Josh start chugging there drinks. Ralph and Felix watch wide eyed, jaws dropped, as Vanellope beats Josh, with out even breaking for a breath. Josh finishes a minute after Vanellope. She grins at him, triumphantly.  
"Your getting too old for this." She says mockingly. Josh shakes his head, not sure how Vanellope beat him.  
"I'm only ten." He says, trying to save his pride. Vanellope tilts her head down.  
"And I'm only nine. So your'e older than me." She says, taunting him. Josh rolls his eyes. He goes back to eating his food. Fries chicken strips, chicken sandwich, spicy chicken sandwich, basically anything chicken that they had. While the others ordered normal meals. Josh sits across the table, away from the others. Felix has noticed this, and has tried closing the gap, but Josh keeps opening it, not wanting to be close to any of them.

"So. What have you been doing Josh?" Felix asks, trying to start a conversation. Josh looks up at him, a little surprised, and wipes his mouth with his jacket sleeve. "Uhh. Nothing much."  
"How did you end up in our house?" Ralph asks, keeping the conversation going.  
"You guys had a kitchen. It was good enough for me."  
"How did you do all that stuff, with the music thingys?" Vanellope asks. Josh sighs, and puts his chicken strip down.  
"This is going to require some explaining." He says. Vanellope sits on the edge of her seat, and leans closer. Josh coughs.

"Okay. First, the rock', gestures to Ralph's foot,' I had to find a rock that would cause some damage, but not completely destroy the window. Second, the music player was easy. I just blasted some music, after smashing the window with the rock. I knew the music would pull people there. I just didn't expect Felix to be in the kitchen. That's where it all went crazy. And I got caught." Josh says. Calhoun crosses her arms, and scowls. Josh starts eating again. The others look among each other, then go back to eating.

Calhoun on the other hand, remains glaring at Josh. He looks up with his eyes, then stops eating. He straightens his back. Calhoun keeps glaring at him, he's not sure if she's trying to scare him, or if she's just always this way, "_Probably both._" He thinks. Josh grabs his second drink, and slowly drinks it, staring back at Calhoun. She leans forward, and narrows her eyes even more. Josh leans forward as well, still drinking his soda. Felix looks at the two, gulping.

"Sheesh take a picture. It'll last longer." Vanellope says. Calhoun shakes her head, and leans back into her chair. Josh does the same. Felix sighs, slightly relieved. Ralph shakes his head. Vanellope looks at Josh. She raises an eyebrow. Josh shakes his head, still drinking his pop. She shrugs, and goes back to eating her food. They all finish their food, and start talking among each other.

"Ice cream!" Vanellope yells excitedly, making Ralph roll his eyes.  
"Okay. Okay. You can get ice cream." Ralph says, not wanting to argue.

Ralph takes Vanellope over to the cashier, they stop about halfway there, look back, and wave Josh over. Vanellope mimics Ralph. Josh shrugs, and follows them. "Okay. Can I get two banana splits?" Ralph asks the cashier. The same cashier from earlier nods rapidly, and presses the buttons.

Within minutes Josh and Vanellope are eating their ice cream back at the table. Josh darts his eyes around to each of them, as he eats his banana split. Suddenly Vanellope yelps out in pain, and drops her spoon. They all look at her.  
"What's the matter?" Ralph asks, worriedly. Vanellope shakes her head, and looks up.  
"Brain freeze!" She says, through grit teeth. Ralph rolls his eyes, and goes back to drinking his soda. Josh watches as Vanellope struggles with her brain freeze, as he sits there, ice cream finished. Josh leans back in his chair, and crosses his arms. "Okay. We've wasted enough time here. Let's hit the road." Calhoun says. Ralph and Felix agree. They drag Vanellope out of Dairy queen, while Josh follows them out. They all get back into the van, and buckle up. Vanellope sits down, and pats the seat next to her for Josh.

Josh shakes his head again, and climbs into the back seat. He buckles up. Vanellope reaches back, and hands Josh the game boy. He hesitates, so she waves it in his face. Josh takes it, and starts playing Pokemon. "Okay! Let's go!" Ralph says, starting the van for Calhoun.

Calhoun backs out of the parking space. She starts driving out.  
"Felix." Vanellope says, starting up her DS. Calhoun slams on the break. Felix runs up next to the van, opens the door, and jumps in. "Okay! Now we're off!" Ralph says. Calhoun pulls out of the parking lot, and back onto the road.

* * *

Preview of next chapter: As the road trip gets longer, the length of everyones sanity, excluding Josh's becomes shorter. Will the family be able to handle Josh's constant trouble making? And will Josh ever start loosening up, and start trusting these people?

* * *

A/N Yay! Well. I hope you liked the chapter. Next one should be up soon. Soon enough. I don't know...*cough* Anyways. Have a good day! Please let me know what you think!


	5. Water world wonders

A/N Chapter 5. Things are going well for the gang+Josh. For now at least. Now they are...

* * *

_**Down the road**_

For the next hour of driving, (which for Josh feels like an eternity), is all is quiet. Nothing but the sound of other cars, and the occasional beep from the game-boy. Josh keeps his eye on the game boy, as they drive down the highway. Not paying attention to what the others are doing. Ralph taps his fingers on his leg, watching other cars drive by them. Calhoun keeps a tight grip on the steering wheel, eyes forward, foot pressed down on the gas pedal. Vanellope stares outside the window, resting her head on her palm, listening to music from her mp3. Felix looks back at Josh, who has been a little too quite for his liking. "How ya doing Josh?" Felix asks, worried he's not liking the drive. Josh keeps his focus on the game, but gives Felix a thumbs up. Felix nods slowly, then turns forward again.

Ralph claps his hands together.  
"Okay! How about some music?" Ralph says, wanting to break the silence. Looking back at the three, he sees that Vanellope already has her music, so she's good, Felix is wanting music, but Josh just keeps playing the game. So, Ralph turns on the radio. Haven't met you yet comes on. Josh pauses the game, and looks up.  
"Is this Michael Bubbly?" Josh asks. Ralph turns his head to Josh.  
"Actually it's Bub...Yeah. Sure. Bubbly." Ralph says, smiling. Josh nods his head, then goes back to his game.  
"I like that guy." Josh says. Felix smiles. Ralph turns the music up. Josh bobs his head up and down with the music. Ralph sees this from the mirror, nods his head, then goes back to tapping his fingers.

Vanellope looks down the road, she gets a big grin across her face. She starts bouncing up and down in her seat. Ralph looks back at her.  
"We are not going there." He says. Vanellope keeps bouncing up and down.  
"Yes we are!" She says excitedly.  
"No we are not."  
"Yes we are!"

Ralph sighs, as Calhoun pulls into the parking lot. Vanellope jumps onto the backseat, and digs through the trunk. She finds her bag and opens it. Ralph slides out of the seat, onto the ground. "Okay Josh. Let's go get you a bathing suit." Ralph says, happily. Josh looks up from the game-boy.  
"Why? Where are we?" Josh asks. Felix helps Josh out of the van, and points over to the large wooden wall in front of them.

Josh is about to ask again, when Vanellope runs past him, towards the wall, already in her bathing suit. "It's a water park!" She yells, cart wheeling. She throws her backpack behind her, for Ralph to catch. Ralph catches it, and follows her. Josh tilts his head back, to look up the wall. Ralph calls him over. Felix and Calhoun walk to the trunk, while Josh follows Ralph and Vanellope.

Ralph and Vanellope run through the doors, Josh on the other hand, lags behind them a couple feet. Josh hears Vanellope yelling for him, so, he speeds up. Josh pushes open the double doors, and runs in. He immediately stops, just inside the doors.

Two gigantic water slides, are the only things Josh can see above the crowd of people. He looks around. Ralph waves above the crowd. "Good thing he's tall." Josh says to himself, a little relieved, while running over to Ralph.

Vanellope climbs up onto Ralph's shoulders and sits down. She waves Josh up, but he just keeps walking next to them. "Now. Where can we find a shop here?" Ralph asks. Vanellope points to a small shop, not to far from the them. Ralph picks up the pace, so does Josh. Ralph takes Josh into the shop.

"Okay. Let's get you some shorts and shirts." Ralph says. Josh tilts his head.  
"Why? For what?" Josh asks. Ralph scrunches his face.  
"How else are you supposed to swim?" He asks. Josh crosses his arms.  
"Swim? Why do I need new clothes to swim?" Ralph shakes his head, and takes Josh further into the store. The store is small, a couple racks of shorts, shirts. Green walls, with goggles, snorkels, and nose plugs. Josh couldn't help but think that Ralph could easily jump from one side of the store to the other.

Ralph takes several pairs of shorts off the rack, and hands them to Josh. He hesitates, before slowly taking the shorts from Ralph. Vanellope jumps from Ralph's shoulder, and starts running around the store, making Ralph groan, and follow her.

Josh watches Ralph chase Vanellope around the store for a minute, before going to the change room.

After he has tried on the shorts, Josh decides on two of the five Ralph gave him. Light blue shorts, that go just past his knees, and purple, grey checkers shorts that are basically pants, but Josh approves. He exits the change room with the two shorts he chose, and easily spots Ralph looking at goggles on the wall. Josh carries the shorts over to Ralph.

"I picked these two." Josh says throwing the shorts at Ralph. The shorts fall at Ralph's feet, making him look down at them.  
"Those two? Why those two?" Ralph asks, making Josh cross his arms.  
"Does it really matter? You wanted me to pick some. So, I picked those two." Josh says, waving his hands towards the shorts. Ralph shrugs, and picks up the shorts. He brings them to the cashier, and buys them for Josh.

"Okay! You have shorts! Now, hurry up and change, so, we can go swimming!" Vanellope yells, shaking Josh.

Josh rolls his eyes, and walks back into the change room. He returns a minute later, in the purple short pants. Vanellope drags the two out of the store, over to the nearest pool, and jumps in. Ralph sits down on one of the chairs at the edge. Josh sits on the edge of the pool, watching Vanellope splash around.

Vanellope looks at him, grinning ear to ear. "Well? Come on!" She orders. Josh shakes his head.  
"Go on squirt. We ain't got all day." Calhoun says, pushing Josh into the pool with her foot. Josh falls into the pool, and allows himself to float back to the top.

He floats around the pool, relaxingly slowly, on his back. While Vanellope swims around him, splashing him with every stroke. Josh turns his head sideways, to look at Ralph, and the others.

Calhoun has placed an umbrella above herself, and has closed her eyes, while Felix has started reading a book. Josh narrows his eyes, and looks around for Ralph, who has seemed to have disappeared. Josh straightens himself out in the water. He looks at Vanellope.  
"Your dad disappeared." Josh says. Vanellope stops swimming, to look at Josh.  
"Just call him Ralph." She says. Josh shakes his head.  
"I'll stick to sir." He says.  
"Or mister Wreckington." She says. Josh shakes his head again.  
"I've been sticking to first names for a reason. I've only told you three my last name." Josh says. Vanellope raises an eyebrow.  
"Why do that?" She asks, thinking of his last name.  
"It's a longggg story." Josh says.

Suddenly Josh gets picked up, throw to the air, lands on the deep end. He swims to the top, and wipes his eyes, looking at where he just was, he sees Ralph and Vanellope laughing, making Josh narrow his eyes. He swims back over to them. When he crosses his arms, the two stop laughing. They look at each other, then start laughing again. Josh shakes his head, and swims toward one of the water slides. "Come on! It was a joke!" Ralph yells, still chuckling a bit. Josh ignores him, and keeps swimming to the slide.

Ralph and Vanellope follow him. Josh jumps out of the pool, and runs up the stairs, to the slide, a long, very long climb. Josh make it halfway up, before turning his head, to look behind him. He sees Vanellope catching up, but Ralph slowly falling behind. Josh takes in a deep breath, and starts running up the stairs. He makes it to the top, and he's surprised to see no one, but the person working the slide, standing there. Josh walks over to the slide. "Great! Just sit down, and slide down!" The worker says, waving his hand towards the slide.

Josh sits down, looking down the slide, and seeing how high up he is, he begins having second thoughts, but before he gets to change his mind, Vanellope has jumped behind him, and has pushed them both down. Josh starts screaming, while Vanellope has raised her arms, screaming, but joyfully. They reach the bottom rapidly, and crash into the pool causing a mildly big splash.

"Sheesh. Are you crazy, or something?" Josh asks, wiping his eyes. Vanellope starts laughing, but quickly stops. She runs her hand across Josh's bare back.  
"What are these weird things on you back?" She asks, rubbing Josh's scars. Josh pulls his shirt back down, and pushes her hand away.  
"Nothing. Just...uhh. Magic marks!" He says. Vanellope tilts her head.  
"Magic marks? What kinda magic?" She asks.  
"Uhhh. Evil magic, from an evil wizard." Vanellope narrows her eyes.  
"An evil wizard?" She asks, now very interested. Josh nods slowly.  
"Yes! The evil wizard Billy!" Josh says, waving his hands in an arc. Vanellope moves closer to Josh.  
"Billy? Where was he from?" She asks.  
"From an evil, evil place! Called...uhm. Called, The Right Path!" Josh says waving his hands. Vanellope nods.  
"Why did he give you magic marks?" She asks.  
"I was trying to escape. So, the evil leader Betty, had him give me magic marks." Josh says. Vanellope's about to ask another question, but Josh shushes her. "You can't tell anybody. Or Betty will find me, and take me back to the evil place." Josh says. Vanellope nods rapidly.

Josh and Vanellope swim over to Calhoun and Felix. Calhoun has now fallen asleep, and is snoring quite loudly. Felix has put his book down, and has moved to the edge of the pool, swaying his legs in the water. Josh pulls himself onto the ledge of the pool. "Nice swim?" Felix asks. Josh stays silent, but nods in response. Vanellope stays in the pool, and keeps swimming. Josh looks up the slide. He sees Ralph flying down the slide, arms raised. Josh shakes his head. His stomach starts growling, so he looks around for a place where he scam some food from. He sees a food stand across the pool, nodding he stands up, and walks over.


	6. Lost

A/N Josh Butterscotch-Butterch= Scot+t= Scott Just saying. Anyways. Chapter 6!

_**Lost...**_

Josh has done his usual scam routine. Fake starvation, play innocent, stuff like that. So, he's walking back to the others, taco in hand. Ralph spots him, and crosses his arms, frowning. "Did you scam more people?" He asks, hoping for a no. Josh nods his head, happily. Still no smile. "Yeah. Taco truck, down there." Josh says pointing his taco to the taco truck. Ralph sighs, and wipes his face. He opens his mouth, but closes it quickly, not knowing what to say. Felix looks up at his distraught friend, heart filled with worry, that Ralph might give up soon. Felix is right to worry though. Ralph is already struggling with Josh. Vanellope so far is the only one that is one-hundred percent with Josh.

"Okay. Let's go now." Calhoun orders. Vanellope dives under the water, and starts swimming away, still not wanting to leave.  
"I'll get her." Ralph says, diving into the water. Josh finishes his taco, and follows Felix, Calhoun out to the van. They reach it before him.

Josh starts running, but his one of his flip flops gets stuck to something, making him lose it. He hops a couple more steps, before he decides to go back for it. Hopping back he grabs his flip flop, and starts pulling. Finally it comes loose, making Josh stumble back. He lands on the ground, rolling, he stops on his stomach. He looks up at his flip flop, already regretting going back for it. But maybe it wasn't a complete loss, looking at what was stuck to his foot, he narrows his eyes, and pulls it off.

"What the heck?" He whispers. Stuck to his flip flop was a coupon for a free nights stay at the Central motel. Josh stands up, walks over to the van, and pokes Calhoun, making her look down. He hands the coupon to her, she takes it eyebrow raised. Nodding, she pats Josh on the head.  
"Nice find squirt." She says, approvingly. Josh nods, then jumps into the van. He goes back to his usual back seat.

Closing his eyes, deciding he wants to sleep, doesn't last long, because soon he's woken up by Vanellope, jumping in the seat next to him. Josh shakes his head, wondering why she always wants to sit next to him. It's defiantly not his looks, personality. Josh raises his arms, and smells his pits. "Do I smell good or something?" He asks himself. He shakes his head, and looks out the window.

Calhoun starts the van, and pulls out of the parking lot. Everyone, excluding Vanellope, out of energy, and ready to sleep, search for the Central hotel. Calhoun pulls out her phone, and searches for it, while Ralph has pulled out a map, from the glove compartment.

They find it, just a couple miles down the road. Calhoun drives over the sidewalk into the parking lot. Ralph climbs out of the van, rubbing his eyes. Calhoun pushes Felix's shoulder, waking him up. Soon everyone is out of the van, walking into the motel. Josh struggles just to keep his eyes open, but manages to make it into the motel before collapsing onto the floor.

The clerk looks at Josh, who is currently falling asleep on his floor. He sighs, clicks his pen, and opens the binder in front of him.  
"How many rooms?" He asks.  
"Two, two bed rooms please." Ralph says, pulling out his wallet. Calhoun hands him the coupon. Ralph takes it, and hands it to the clerk.

The clerk takes it, nods and writes something down in his binder. "Okay. This coupon can only be used on one room. Is that okay?" He asks. Ralph nods.  
"Okay. Name?"  
"Ralph Wreckington." The clerk nods, and writes it down.  
"So. Where are you folks coming from?"  
"Just a small town back west. Niceland." Ralph says, sighing. The clerk nods.  
"Sounds good. Where are you heading?" Calhoun coughs, getting Ralph's attention. Calhoun shakes her head. Ralph nods, understanding.  
"No where in particular. Just on a road trip." Ralph says, rubbing the back of his head. The clerk nods.  
"Okay. Well. Here's you keys." He says, handing Ralph two keys.

Ralph picks up Josh, and walks out of the lobby. Calhoun finds their rooms. Felix and Calhoun get one room, while Ralph, Josh and Vanellope get the other.

Ralph places Josh down on the bed. Vanellope tries climbing up next to Josh, but she gets thrown onto the other bed by Ralph, she starts giggling. Ralph shushes her. "Just let Josh sleep." Ralph whispers. Vanellope crosses her arms, and start pouting, making Ralph shake his head. He walks over to the couch, and lays down. It doesn't take long for him to fall asleep.

_**Several hours later**_

Josh flips over onto his stomach. Opening his eyes, he sees some light making it's way through the curtain, making him groan. Sliding off the bed, he lands on the floor, and crawls over to the door. Way too tired to stand, but not wanting to get his new clothes dirty, he forces himself to his feet, and opens the door.

"Going somewhere?" Vanellope asks. Josh turns his head, to look at her, sitting on the bed, staring at him, wide eyed.  
"No. Just for a walk." Josh says, stepping towards the outside.  
"But going for a walk is going somewhere." Josh rolls his eyes.  
"Okay. Fine. I'm going somewhere." Josh says, trying to leave again.  
"Are you coming back?" Vanellope asks, making Josh sigh.  
"I can't promise that I will." Josh says, walking out, and closing the door.

Vanellope jumps out of bed, and runs over to Ralph. She grabs his arm, and pulls.  
"Come on! Wake up! Josh is leaving!" She yells. Ralph groans, and sits up.  
"What do you mean he's leaving?"  
"He just walked out! He said, he wasn't coming back!" Vanellope yells, panicking a bit, making Ralph jump up, and run out the door, to Felix's and Calhoun's room.

The four search for Josh around the motel, which is a lot bigger than they thought. But they haven't found anything, at least nothing important. Vanellope yells Josh's name with no response. "Where could he have gone?" She asks.  
"Maybe he found out we were taking him back..." Ralph begins, but gets punched by Calhoun. He looks at her, shakes his head, raises his hands, and mouths,  
"what" She nods her head towards Vanellope. Ralph rolls his eyes.  
"What is she gonna do?" He mouths.  
"She might tell him." Calhoun mouths. Ralph lowers his hands, and nods his head. Vanellope knocks on one of the doors, before Ralph can stop her. A large man, with a mo hawk opens the door.  
"Hello friends! What can I do for you?" He asks, clearly Russian.

"Uhh. Hello! We're looking for a small boy, with black hair, green eyes, purple short-pant, things." Ralph says. The mohawk man rubs his head.  
"My apologies. I have not seen anyone like that." He says. Ralph nods, thanks him, and the four keep looking.

* * *

A/N Josh acts older than he is, but you try growing up in an orphanage, escaping several times, only to be captured, brought back, and belted by a large evil wizard named Billy, (not an actual wizard), Anyways hope you liked the chapter! Please let me know what you think!


	7. Down the Right Path

A/N A long adventure is ahead of us. Well, them. Not us. We're just watching, like a tv show, or something, story book. Yeah.

* * *

_**...& Found...**_

Josh kicks his feet up, onto the seat in front of him, pulls out the game-boy, and starts playing Pokemon. As soon as he starts playing, he hears Vanellope yell his name. He looks out the van window, sees the four, groans, and ducks behind the seat. "I'm gone for five minutes, and they're already looking for me." Josh mutters. He peeks his head above the seat, and sees them walk past the van again. "I don't even know why I'm staying. I could easily run away right now. They'd stop looking eventually." He sits down again.

"Of all the houses I had to pick, I had to pick the one with these people!" Josh turns the game-boy off, sighs, thinking he could have picked a worse house, with worse people. "Gotta love these new clothes though. Vanellope's nice enough, I suppose. Felix is...well, nice." Josh lays down on the seat, drums on his stomach, and waits.

Ralph rubs the back of his head. "Maybe he just ran away." He says, ready to give up. Calhoun crosses her arms.  
"The place was just a couple miles down the road." She says, looking down the road.  
"Maybe that's why he ran." Ralph turns, and walks back to the van.  
"Someone else's problem now." Calhoun mutters, a little glad he's gone. She turns, and follows Ralph.

"Hey! You guys are just going to let him leave?" Vanellope yells, shocked. Felix places a hand on her shoulder.  
"He was not ours to take care of." Felix says, trying to comvice Vanellope to forget about him.

Vanellope crosses her arms. "Come on you two! We're going home!" Calhoun yells. Felix guides Vanellope back to the van, who reluctantly follows. Ralph opens the van door, and get in. Along with the other three. Josh peeks his head above the back seat. Vanellope sees him, smiles, and waves Josh slowly waves back.

"Where have you guys been?" Josh asks. The three adults look at him, startled, wide eyed. Felix sits down, slowly, still looking at Josh.  
"Where have you been?" Ralph asks, angrily. Josh waves his hands.  
"I've just been in here." Josh says, sitting back down. Ralph looks at Calhoun, who's face has turned into a scowl, just wanting to be rid of Josh. Felix on the other hand, smiles happily, wanting to help Josh as much as possible. Both with a different objective, different motives, yet Josh can't help but notice how well they get along.

Calhoun turns forward, starts the car, and pulls out of parking lot. She turns left, confusing Vanellope. "I thought, you said we were going home." She says. Ralph looks at her, using the mirror.  
"What? No!" Ralph says, before chuckling nervously. Josh crosses his arms.  
"I disappear, and you guys decide to go home?" He says, not at all hurt.  
"It's not like that!" Ralph says, turning to face him. Josh looks away.  
"No. I get it. I'm not your problem." Josh says quietly. Ralph opens his mouth to protest, but shakes his head, and turns forward again.

They all stay silent for a while, the sound of rain hitting the roof, does nothing but make everything seem...gloomy. It doesn't damper Vanellope's mood in anyway, as she sits their swaying her legs back and forth, she watches the adults, sit quietly, looking their own ways, while Josh keeps his attention on the game-boy. She puts her ear buds in, plays some music, and waits for their next stop.

After twenty minutes of driving. They come across a restaurant, making everyone hungry. Ralph tells Calhoun to pull into the parking lot, which she does. Josh looks up, wondering where they have stopped now. He sees the restaurant, narrowing his eyes, trying to remember why this place seems so familiar, he doesn't notice the others get out, and head inside. They stop just outside the door, to look at Josh, who is still sitting in the van.

"Maybe he doesn't wanna get wet." Vanellope says, looking up at the sky. Ralph rolls his eyes.  
"It's just a little rain." He says, hoping Vanellope is wrong. She is. For Josh, it's just a mix of wondering why this place is so familiar, and not wanting to go with the four. He isn't their problem after all, at least, that's what he thinks.

Vanellope runs over to the van, covering her head, she opens the van, and jumps in. Josh ignores her, keeping his attention on the restaurant. Vanellope jumps into the trunk, searching for her umbrella. Upon finding it she, jumps back in front, next to Josh, pulls Josh out of the van, and opens the umbrella. Josh looks around, wondering what just happened. Vanellope hands him the umbrella. He reluctantly takes it, closes it, thinking that's what she wanted him to do, and gives back. Vanellope giggles, opens it again, and gives it back.

"Pick it up you two!" Calhoun orders. Vanellope grabs Josh's free hand, and drags him, the umbrella into the restaurant. Ralph and the other adults, enter the restaurant, while Vanellope and Josh, are just reaching the door, opening the doors the smell of food comes out of the restaurant, making Josh's mouth water. Inside is nicely decorated, small. A dozen or so tables, each surrounded by four, or five wooden chairs. All the tables are covered in white table clothes. The restaurant is empty, besides the five.

The waiter takes the five to a table in the corner. "Okay. Can I get you folks something to drink?" The waiter asks. Ralph picks up the menu.  
"You kids want something to drink?" He asks. Josh looks up at the waiter.  
"You guys got root beer?" Josh asks. The waiter nods, and writes it down.  
"Milk shake!" Vanellope yells, excitedly. The waiter nods again, and writes it down.

After the drinks are ordered, the five order their food, and begin eating. Vanellope squeezes the ketchup bottle over her fries, the ketchup doesn't come out though. She squeezes harder, turning it sideways, she shakes it. A load of ketchup squirts out, covering Ralph in the red goo. They four look at Ralph, who looks shocked, ridiculous, Felix, Calhoun and Vanellope begin laughing. Vanellope lays her head down on the table, and starts hitting it. Ralph looks at them, scowling, arms at his side, as ketchup drips off of him. Vanellope looks at Josh, who has crossed his arms, and for the first time with the group, is smiling, making Vanellope grin ear to ear.  
"Your smiling!" She says, giggling. Josh looks at her, and shakes his head.  
"No." He says looking away. Ralph looks at Josh, making Josh start laughing. Josh leans forward and laughs even harder at Ralph. Calhoun crosses her arms, smiling, watching Josh laugh. She shakes her head happily.

They all laugh at Ralph, as he cleans the ketchup off of him. Things finally calm down after a couple more minutes, allowing everyone to finish eating.  
"Okay. I guess, we should pay, and get going." Ralph says, calmly.

Ralph pays the bill. They all leave the restaurant, get back in the van, and hit the road.

Almost instantly Josh and Vanellope are asleep, Vanellope listening to her music. Calhoun pulls out her phone. She scrolls through the map on her phone. After a couple minutes of searching, she sighs. "What?" Ralph says. She doesn't respond. They drive a couple more miles, before Calhoun turns down a dirt road. Ralph narrows his eyes, and looks around the forest they have just entered. His shoulders drop. They stay silent, but Ralph knows what's happening. A couple more minute of driving through the woods, and they stop in front of a large metal gate. They wait for a moment, before the gate opens slowly, allowing them to enter. They drive into the round-about, and stop in front of a large, old looking, wooden "mansion" style building. Ralph turns to look at Josh, who is still sleeping.

"I'm not so sure about this. I mean, he ran away. If we turn him in...well, wont the same thing just happen? He'll still be scamming people, all of that." Felix says, quietly. Ralph sighs.  
"Sorry Felix. We have to do this." He says. Ralph gets out of the van. The other two try too, but Ralph stops them.  
"I'll take him in. Alone." Ralph says. Calhoun closes the door. Felix unbuckles himself, and leans backwards. He takes his pocket watch out of his pocket, and wraps it around Josh's neck, like a necklace. He tucks it into Josh's shirt, and sits back down.

Ralph opens the door, and gently grabs Josh. Felix unbuckles Josh, allowing Ralph to take him. Calhoun looks out the window, away from Josh and Ralph.

Ralph carries Josh up the stairs, to the front door. Ralph knocks with his foot, making him wince, forgetting what happened to his foot.

A moment later, an old looking lady, with white, short, curly hair. opens the door. Ralph looks her over. She's wearing a long blue wool skirt, that falls to her ankles, with a matching jacket. "Hello! My name is Betty! Welcome to the Right Path orphanage!" Betty chirps.

* * *

A/N Thhh. They made it. They just started liking Josh. But they made it. Stay tuned for the next chapter. Let me know what your thinking!


	8. No place like home

A/N Poor, poor, poor, poor Josh. Oh well. You win some, you lose a lot. At least that's how it is for Josh. Let's join him, Ralph, and Betty, for a walk through the Right Path orphanage.

* * *

_**No place like "home"**_

"As you can see, this is a loving kind place, accommodations for all types of kids." Betty says, waving her hand around. Ralph looks around. All he can see is a long narrow hallway, with chipped brown paint, old "rusted" checkered floors, that are covered in floor mats, that look to have been just thrown on sloppily, just to cover said flooring. Ralph gets a concerned look on his face. Betty notices, but ignores it.

"I can see that." Ralph says, calmly. "But will Josh be safe here?" Betty nods once.

"You can be sure of it mister...Wreckington? Is it?" Ralph nods his head. "Josh will be in the best of hands. We have the best security here!" Betty says, opening one of the doors.

"I don't know about that, miss Betty. Josh did escape once." Ralph says.

Ralph looks inside the door. A couple monitors, showing the outside, backyard, and the sleeping quarters for the children. One large muscular man, and a smaller slimmer man, sit in front of the monitors, one with his legs propped up on the table, the other leaning forward building a house of cards, both not noticing Ralph and Betty standing in the door way. Betty coughs, getting the guards attention. The one with the propped up legs is the first on his feet. He salutes Betty, making the other guard roll his eyes. He slowly pushes himself onto his feet.

"What can we do for you mam?" Billy asks, lowering his hand. Billy immediately sees Josh in Ralph's arms. "Is that the escapee?" Billy asked, completely shocked at his return. Betty nods once.

"Yes. He was brought back by this nice man." She says, waving her hand towards Ralph.

"Yeah. Nice." Ralph mutters. Billy and Caleb (the other guard) step out into the hallway. Billy holds out his arms, to take Josh. Ralph clutches Josh closer to himself.

"I uhhh...I can carry him." Ralph says, tightening his grip. Billy nods, and lowers his arms.

"Alrighty then! Let us show you his quarters." Betty says, wrapping her arms behind her back. Ralph, Billy and Caleb, follow Betty down the hallway. She leads Ralph past the regular quarters, to a metal door at the end of the hallway. Betty steps to the side of the door, allowing Billy to open the door. The door creaks loudly, as Billy turns the wheel. He pulls on the door outward, revealing a tiny room, with a bed about the size of a school desk, a bucket in the corner, for what Ralph was guessing was the toilet. Betty waves Ralph in.

"Is that where hes going to sleep?" Ralph asks, clutching Josh to his chest, not wanting him to be anywhere near the tiny broom closet like "room". Betty nods once, again.

"Only momentarily, until we can get him assimilated into our ways, not running away, manners, things like that." Betty says, face emotionless, and uncaring, just wanting Ralph to leave, as soon as possible.

Ralph sighs. He carries Josh into the room, places him carefully on the bed, making sure not to wake him. "Thank you mister Wreckington." Betty says. Ralph nods. Betty takes Ralph back to the front door.

"Is there anyway to..you know check up on him?" Ralph asks, already worried about Josh. Betty nods. She takes Ralph back inside, to the front desk, leans over the desk, and grabs a card. She hands it to Ralph. He looks at it. The orphanages address, phone number, visiting times, all of that, are listed on the card. Ralph nods, and puts the card in his wallet. Ralph thanks her, and goes back to the van.

Opening the van door gets the two adults attention. They look at him expectantly, as if Ralph had changed his mind about turning Josh in. Ralph sits down, closes the door, and buckles himself in. Calhoun nods once, before starting the van, and pulling out of the courtyard. Betty watches them pull out of the courtyard. She turns to Billy.

"Inform the children of his return." She orders. Billy nods. He follows the orders without question. Betty turns to Caleb. "Prepare the 'play' room." Caleb nods, and walks down the hallway.

"Oh and Caleb. Don't lock young Scott in yet. I wish to have a word with him." Caleb throws her a thumbs up, but keeps walking down the hallway. Betty wraps her arms behind her back, and walks down the hallway, to Josh's "room" She steps carefully into the room, not wanting to step into any goo or mysterious liquid. Looking at Josh, she sees he is still sleeping, not knowing hes back in the place it took him months to escape from. She leans forward, softly she places a hand on his shoulder, then violently shakes him awake. His eyes shoot open, dart around the room. He calms down, looking around, slowly causes his heart to drop, further and further.

"Welcome back Joshua" Betty says. Josh looks down, seeing his new clothes reassures him that it wasn't a dream, which unfortunately of course, means he was taken back.

"I...I'm back? How did I get back?" Josh asks, breathing heavily, looking up at Betty.  
"Oh a nice man, by the name of Ralph, took you back." Betty says, with a crooked smile, that says she knows, she has won. Josh hugs himself, making him feel the pocket watch that Felix gave him. He doesn't take it out, fearing that if Betty saw it, she would take it away, she would. Josh pulls his knees up to his chest. Betty pats him on the head, before leaving the room, closing the door, and locking Josh in. Josh looks around the room, realizing he has just been re-trapped.

_**Down the road**_

They drive silently back towards their home. Ralph looks back at Vanellope, who is still asleep. He sighs, and turns his attention back to the front. Calhoun looks at him, nods, and turns the radio on. Ralph looks out the window. He sees the restaurant they ate at earlier, making him scratch the dried ketchup on his shirt. He pulls the card out of his wallet.

"Can I borrow your phone?" Ralph asks Calhoun, making her raise an eyebrow.

"Why? Whats with the card?" She asks, curious. Ralph holds it up to her. "We've been gone five minutes. He's fine." She says, grabbing her phone off the dashboard, and putting it in her pocket. Ralph puts the card away. Felix twists his hat in his hands, staring backwards down the road.

"Do you think we did the right thing?" He asks, looking at the two in front.

"Nothing else we could have done." Calhoun says, looking at him in through the mirror. Ralph nods. Felix looks back down the road.

Calhoun hits a speed bump making everyone jump, waking Vanellope up in the process. She rubs her eyes and looks around the van. "What's the big idea? And wheres Josh?" She asks, still half asleep. Ralph looks back at her.

"Well. He decided to...leave. Go home." He says, not wanting to tell Vanellope where he actually is, and where he has to live. Vanellope frowns, and looks back down the road.

"He didn't even say by or anything."

"Uhhh. He wanted to. But you were asleep." Ralph says, making Vanellope look down at the floor. They all drive the rest of the way home, silent, no stops.

* * *

A/N Yeah. He's back at the orphanage. They're going home. What will happen to the young Scott now? Please let me know what you think!


	9. Rusty Cage

A/N Join Josh and his struggle to survive the hardships of being an orphan, or not. It's up to you. You could just wait for the next chapter, but who would want to do that? Anyways...chapter 9!

* * *

**_Rusty Cage_**

Josh clicks the pocket watch closed, then flips it open again. He focuses intently on the watch, ignoring the flickering of the light bulb, showing it's ready to go out. Josh keeps his nose pinched, not wanting to smell the bucket in the corner of his "room" freshly used, unfortunately. The light bulb flickers once more, before going out. Josh sighs, and clicks the watch shut. He leans his head back onto the wall, closes his eyes, and falls asleep.

Josh is brought back to the day he escaped, no rain, not a single cloud in the sky, warm, with a cool breeze. The ideal weather condition, for a midday escape.

Josh, along with a couple other kids, are in the backyard, doing yard work, raking, hosing down the orphanage, cleaning the jungle gym. Josh leans over to Timothy.

"I'm escaping today. Are you coming or not?" Josh asks, in a hushed voice. Timothy looks over his shoulder, making sure Billy isn't within earshot.

"No. I'm not. Your plan is stupid." Timothy says. Josh shakes his head.

"Okay. Have it your way. And its not stupid, its just...crazy." Josh says, going back to raking the yard.

Josh makes sure to keep Billy in his sight at all times, not wanting to lose sight of him, before he can set his plan in motion. He looks up at the sky, waiting for the sun to reach the top of the sky. The sun slowly crawls, making Josh anxious.

"Soon." He whispers. Josh returns to raking the leaves in a constant circle, not moving it anywhere, but making it look like he's working.

"Oy! Scott! Get rid of those leaves!" Billy orders. Josh nods. He rakes the leave over to one of the many garbage bags.

As soon as all the leaves are into the bag, a bell goes off, signalling lunch time. Josh smirks, and nods. "Now." He whispers. The orphans start crowding in front of the door to the inside. Josh waits at the back, separating himself from the group. Josh catches Timothy looking at him. Timothy shakes his head, making Josh raise an eyebrow. Thanks to Timothy, Josh has been distracted, causing him to miss his chance, the kids start being herded into building.

Josh looks up at Betty's office window, over at Billy. He bites his lip. "Now or never." Josh pulls one of the kids down, and jumps off his back, up the wall, and climbs into the window.

"Get down here Scott!" Billy barks. Josh ignores him, pushes the chair to the door, and lodges it in between the door knob and floor, locking himself in. He turns into the office, finally getting a good look at it.

"Betty, Betty, Betty. What were you thinking?" Josh asks. The office is a mix of new, and old styles. With a large oak desk facing the door, beside this desk is a stereo system, hooked up to the p.a system, used for announcements or music, Josh thinks for a moment. "Music." He walks over to the stereo, turns it on, and searches for a CD to play. He finds one, pops it in, turns the stereo to max volume, and plays the music.

Billy and Caleb are running up the stairs, to Betty's office, when the music starts blasting, making the two cover their ears. They continue running up the stairs though, determined to stop Josh. They make it to the door. Billy tries opening it, but can't, thanks to the chair. Billy takes a couple steps back, charges forward, upon hitting the door, Billy ends up breaking it open. Caleb jumps over Billy, and runs over to the stereo to shut it off. Billy pushes himself to his feet, after Caleb shuts off the stereo. The two run over to the window and look out it.

They see Josh pushing the ladder from the jungle gym over to the wall.

"Don't do it Scott! We will find you! You have no where to hide!" Billy yells. Josh leans the ladder on the wall, and climbs up. Billy and Caleb turn, run out the door, down the stairs, and out the front door. They run around the outside of the walls, over to where Josh has placed the ladder, looking around they don't see him, but they run into the woods anyways.

Josh runs around a tree, ducks under a branch, and slides under a fallen down tree. He doesn't know how long he's been running for, but it feels like a marathon, due to his lack of food, lack of sleep, basically lack of the necessities. But Josh keeps running, because he knows, if he stops now, they will catch him, he keeps running through the forest, speeding up a bit.

The sun begins setting, Josh looks up for a second, but immediately regrets it, he loses his footing, and tumbles onto the ground. He uses a tree to force himself to his feet. Taking in a deep breath, he looks around, nothing but trees, and animals around. Josh sighs, and slides down the tree, onto the ground, exhausted, ready to sleep, but he can't. Billy and Caleb could be right on his tail. So, he forces himself back onto his feet, to continue running.

Eventually he makes it to a road. Josh not knowing which way to go decided to eenie meenie miny moe it. He ends up going left. Running down the road, it becomes less dirt like, and more road like, its a good sign for Josh, getting closer to civilization.

Josh hugs himself. The sun has now set, leaving Josh with no way of keeping warm. Almost instantly Josh feels the cold wrap around him, making him shiver. It doesn't help that he has flip flops on. But Josh pushes forward, to where he does not know, but anywhere is better than the orphanage.

Josh's stomach growls. He looks around, seeing a light in the distance fills him with hope. Suddenly filled with renewed energy, he breaks into a sprint down the road. The restaurant parking lot is filled. Josh skids to a stop, right in front of a family.

"Uhhh. Sup?" Josh says. The family looks at him, confused.

"Hello. Who might you be?" The mother asks. Josh looks down at his clothing.

"Names Josh." He says, placing his hands in his pocket. Slowly, he makes his way around the family, once he reaches the other side, he starts running down the road again. One of the kids look up at the mother.

"What's his deal?" The kid asks, poking the mother.

"I don't know. Looks like hes running away from something." The family walks into the restaurant, already forgetting about the kid they just met.

Josh sees a pickup truck driving down the road, in the direction he's running in. Josh waves his arms rapidly, not wanting to walk anymore. The truck pulls to the side of the road, for Josh.  
"Come on friend!" The mohawk man yells, waving Josh over. Josh jumps into the truck, and is instantly warmed by the heater on the inside. Josh rubs his arms, soaking the heat into his skin, happily. "Where are you going?" The mohawk man asks. Josh looks out the window, still rubbing his arms.

"Know any towns around here?" Josh asks.

"Yes. A town, just a couple miles down the road. Niceland." He says. Josh nods his head.  
"Then thats where I'm going."

* * *

A/N Any Johnny Cash fans? I'm hoping so. If you haven't heard the song Rusty Cage, then you should listen to it. I'm not telling you to, but I love that song. watch?v=TmAWDZdYvL4


	10. Lucky Day

A/N I can't help, but imagine how sad Josh is, yet he is not giving up. Not yet at least.

* * *

**_Lucky day_**

"Hey. Squirt! Best not keep Betty waiting." Caleb says, quietly, poking Josh's shoulder. Josh blinks his eyes open, slides off the bed, and follows Caleb with out question.

Caleb takes Josh down the hallway, to the "play" room, opens the door for Josh, nudges him in, closes the door, and locks it. Josh looks around, to see what changes they have made. Every time he's been put in here, it has been changed. Last time it was green everything. Sure it doesn't sound bad, but try walking around without tripping over, or bumping into anything for more than a couple seconds.

This time, it looks normal. A small round table, sits in the center. On this table is a set of crayons, a couple pieces of paper. A small wooden chair is set upside down beside the table. Josh looks at the mirror on the wall, knowing it's a one way window. "What the heck am I supposed to do?" Josh asks. Static sounds through the p.a system, before Betty begins talking.  
"Just sit there, and draw about what you have done."

Josh shrugs.  
"Could have it worse." He says. He walks over to the chair, but as he grabs it, electricity shoots up his hand, making him jerk his hand back. Betty laughs, but Josh can't hear her, through the glass. Shaking his head, he kicks the chair, using the tip of his flip flop, flipping the chair onto it's legs. Betty stops laughing instantly, surprised by Josh's, quick solution.

"Oh well. Enjoy your stay in the play room." Betty says, turning the p.a system off, and leaving Josh alone.

Josh sits down in the chair, with nothing better to do, he decides to color with the crayons. He doesn't know what to draw, but then he gets an idea. He pulls the pocket watch out. Flipping it open, he places the watch down on the table, picture towards him. He takes the crayons out, his heart sinks. All the crayons are grey. "She is just a horrible person." Josh mutters.

He colors anyways, well draws the picture from the pocket watch. Once he's done, he nods in approval, sure he's not much of an artist, but if you saw the picture you would know what the drawing is. He slips the drawing into his pocket, and goes to draw another picture.

He finds himself drawing the water park, so he stops himself, crumbles up the drawing, and throws it, to the side of the room. He starts another drawing, but quickly realizes it's the restaurant. Scowling, he does the same as the last drawing.

He tries another drawing.  
"The house. Of course." He says, throwing the drawing off the table. Josh quickly runs out of paper. Apparently the four had a bigger affect on him than he had thought. Every drawing being something to do with them. Josh leans backwards on the chair, placing his feet on the table, sighing.

"I have to get outta here...again." Josh jumps to his feet, walks over to the door, and opens it. He narrows his eyes. "What the..." Stepping out of the play room, he looks down the hallway, both ways. "Son of a..." Instantly he begins running down the hallway.

**_Ralph's house_**

Calhoun pulls into the driveway of the house. She stops, turns the van off, and leans backward in the seat. "Okay. Who's up for some supper?" Ralph asks. The group groans in agreement. They all exit the van, and slug their way inside.

Ralph turns the living room light on. Looking at the still broken window, he sighs. Felix walks in past him, into the kitchen, straight to the coffee maker. Felix makes a batch of coffee, while Ralph, and Calhoun make dinner. Vanellope sits silently at the table, keeping her head down, music on. Felix sits down at the table, cup of coffee in hand.

"Grubs on." Calhoun says, dropping the plate down in front of Vanellope, making her jump up, and accidentally push the plate away while outstretching her arms. The plate slides over, pushing Felix's coffee cup off the table, and spilling onto his shirt.

Felix jumps off the chair, and rips his shirt off, throwing it to the ground, yelping in pain. Vanellope quickly starts apologizing. She jumps over the table, grabs a bunch of paper towels, and starts rubbing Felix, back and front dry. "Heyyyy. You have magic marks." Vanellope says, sweeping her hand across Felix's scar, he got from an accident last month, while building a house.

Ralph narrows his eyes, walks over, and pulls Vanellope away. Ralph looks at the scar, then back at Vanellope.

"Magic marks? Where did you hear that?" Ralph asks. Vanellope puts her hands in her sweater pocket.  
"Josh called them magic marks." She says. Ralph turns towards her, and grabs her shoulders.

"Why did he call them magic marks?" Ralph asks, sternly.  
"I saw them on his back. He told me they were magic marks." Vanellope says, not knowing what's wrong.  
"Did he tell you where he got them?"  
"He said, the evil wizard Billy did it, and that the leader Betty told him to!" Vanellope says, frowning.

Ralph pulls out his wallet, and the card from the orphanage. "For Betty On The Right Path founder, call 778-678" Ralph says out loud. He looks up at Calhoun. She crosses her arms, scowls, and raises an eyebrow.  
"We have to help him." Ralph says, standing up. Calhoun looks down at Felix, who has started nodding in agreement. She sighs, grabs the van keys, and walks out of the kitchen. The other three quickly follow.

As fast as they can, they get into the van start it up, and drive down the road, back to the orphanage.

* * *

A/N Yay! Team Josh saving squad people! Josh has gotten out again, maybe. But even if he hasn't, the four are on their way! Please let me know what you think! Much appreciated.


	11. Cross my heart

A/N Double digits! I know we started double digits last chapter, but I didn't want to celebrate until now. Chapter 11! I'm happy! I hope you are! Anyways...Let's join Josh! Or Ralph?...Why not both? Oh right Josh isn't with Ralph, and the others. Because they took him back to the orphanage. Okay, let's join Betty then.

* * *

**_Cross my heart_**

"You idiots!" Betty yells, slapping to two. Caleb rubs his cheek.

"It was an accident." He says, glaring at Betty.

"It doesn't matter how it happened! Just go, and bring him back!" She orders. The two run out of the building, into the woods.

Josh ditches his flip flops, knowing he can run faster with out them, looking back he sees Billy, and Caleb not too far behind. Looking around he sees a large tree. So, he jumps onto it, and starts climbing. The two watch him climb. Josh grits his teeth, as the bark scratches his feet, giving him splinters, and cuts.

"You're can't stay up there forever!" Billy yells.

"Well. It is an apple tree. So, he could." Caleb says, making Billy roll his eyes.

Josh makes it halfway up the tree, before stopping. He grabs an apple from the branch above him, and starts eating it. After his first bite, he waves the apple above Billy's head, mockingly. Billy crosses his arms.

"We can wait." Billy says, leaning against the tree. Caleb sighs, and sits down on the ground.

Back at the orphanage, Ralph, and the others pull into the courtyard, stopping in front of the building, they all jump out of the van. Ralph is the first up the stairs. Betty swings the doors open, just as Ralph reaches the top of the stairs.

"Hello, mister Wreckington!" Betty says cheerfully.

"Can it Betty! We came back for Josh! We know you've been hurting him!" Ralph says, almost yelling, while pointing a finger at Betty.

Betty slowly pushes Ralph's finger down. She smiles at him.

"I have no idea what you are talking about, Ralph." She says, walking back into the orphanage. Ralph follows her in. The others follow as well. Ralph turns to face them.

"Go find Josh. I'll deal with Betty." He orders. Vanellope instantly runs further into the orphanage. Followed by Felix. Calhoun runs back outside, around the building, to the backyard.

Ralph follows Betty up the stairs, into her office. He slams the door, making Betty flinch. She turns to face him.

"Now, now, mister Wreckington. No need for senseless violence." She says, sitting down on her chair. Ralph clenches his fists, anger flooding heart. He storms over to the desk, and calmly places his palms on the table.

"I want Josh out of this place now." Ralph demands.

"Well then. By all means take him." Betty says, waving her hands. Ralph narrows his eyes.

"Really? I can just take him?" Ralph asks, not thinking it would be this easy.

"Of course. All you have to do is adopt him." Betty says, making Ralph stand up straight. Ralph crosses his arms, and thinks.

Vanellope bursts into the first door she finds. Inside a couple kids look at her, bewildered, by her intrusion.

"Anyone of you seen Josh?" She asks, hopefully. The kids begin whispering among each other. Then one of them steps forward.

"If you're talking about Josh Scott. Then he escaped." Timothy says.

"No! Well yeah, but he got brought back." Vanellope says. Timothy shakes his head.

"No. I mean, he literally just escaped. He ran past the window a couple minutes ago." Timothy says, pointing at the window.

Vanellope runs over, jumps out the window, and runs to the left.

"He went right!" Timothy yells. Vanellope turns around, and runs to the right, waving as she passes the window. Felix jumps out the window, and runs after her.

Billy looks up at Josh, who is still eating the apple. Billy shakes his head, and turns his attention back to his cellphone. Josh hears Vanellope yelling his name, so he swallow the apple in his mouth.

"What do you want now?!" Josh yells, dropping the apple. Vanellope stops at the bottom of the tree. She looks up at him.

"What are you doing up there?" She asks, tilting her head up. Josh doesn't say anything, but he points to Billy, and Caleb. Vanellope looks at the two, and walks over. "Why are you guys just sitting here?"

"Were waiting for him', points to Josh,'to come down, so we can take him back to the orphanage." Billy says. Vanellope crosses her arms.

"Who are you anyways?" She asks, scowling at Billy. Billy stands up straight.  
"Names Billy. Who the heck are you?"

Vanellope's face fills with anger. "Your Billy? Your that jerk that hurt Josh!" Vanellope yells, swinging her fists at Billy. Felix gets there, just before Vanellope starts hitting Billy. He pulls her away from Billy.

"My apologies sir. Shes just a little cranky. Long ride over here." Felix says, wrapping his arms around Vanellope, holding her back. Josh shakes his head, grabs one of the apples, drops it down, hitting Billy on the top of the head. Billy glares at Josh, while rubbing his head. He grabs one of the branches, and starts climbing up.

Josh starts climbing up again. He's about another ten feet up, when he hears the branch snap below him. He looks down, just in time to see Billy crash down to the ground. Josh smiles, sits down on the branch. "Sorry Billy. Too big for the branches." Josh teases.

Vanellope manages to squirm out of Felix's grip. She jumps onto the lowest branch, starts climbing up the tree. Josh sees her, and starts climbing higher. Vanellope groans. "Wait up!" She orders.

"So you can take me back to the orphanage? No thanks." Josh says, jumping up the branches.

Vanellope follows him up, higher, and higher the tree. Josh reaches a thin branch, near the top of the tree. It bends under his weight, but manages to hold him up. Vanellope jumps up next to him. Josh wraps his arms around the tip of the tree, to steady himself.

"Fine. You found me. What do you want?" Josh asks.  
"I dunno. Ralph made us come back. Something about helping you." Vanellope says, sitting down on the branch.

"Yeah. A lot of help you guys have been."

"What do you mean?"

Josh sits down as well. "You guys brought me back here! I had to escape...again."

"Again? You mean this is that Right Path place?" Vanellope asks. Josh nods. "No wizards?" Josh shakes his head. "It's still evil though?" Josh nods his head. "You can't stay here."

"Well duhhhh." Josh says, rolling his head. Vanellope punches him. "It's not like I have anywhere to go." Vanellope shakes her head.

"There's always our house. I'm sure the gown ups would love having you there!" She says, excitedly. Josh shakes his head.

"No way am I getting in that van, just so you guys can take me back to the orphanage...AGAIN!" He says. Vanellope crosses her arms.

Ralph sits down on the chair, in front of the desk. Betty slides the Josh's papers towards him. Ralph takes them, and looks them over. Betty slides a pen to Ralph.

"Are you sure about this mister Wreckington?" Betty asks, wrapping her fingers together. Ralph shakes his head.  
"No. I'm not." Ralph clicks the pen open, and writes his name at the bottom of the paper. Betty nods her head.

"Well. It has been a pleasure doing business with you." She says, extending her hand out. Ralph pushes it away.

"I know you hurt Josh in some way! Your going to be in trouble." He says, making Betty chuckle.  
"Oh. You cannot prove that. He is in your care after all." She says, waving her hand towards the paper Ralph just signed. Ralph looks down at the paper, curses under his breath, and runs out of the room to find Josh.

"We won't take you back!" Vanellope says, jumping onto Josh's branch.

"How do I know you wont?" Josh asks. Vanellope holds her hand out, and extends her pinky.

"Pinky promise!' She says. Josh looks down at her pinky, back at her face, back to the pinky. Vanellope waves the pinky in his face. "I promise, I won't leave you side, and you won't leave mine." Josh slowly reaches out to her hand, and extends his pinky. Vanellope wraps her pinky around his, and shakes their hands. She then crosses her heart. Josh does the same. "Pinky cross my heart and hope to die promise."

Josh looks down. He sees Billy and Caleb still waiting for him.

"What about them?" Josh asks. Vanellope looks down as well.

"I dunno." She starts. "Felix! Fight those two guys away!" She yells. Felix crosses his arms, and shakes his head.

"I will not fight them."

"Come on buddy! Help me out here!" Josh yells. Felix shakes his head.

"Josh? Vanellope? Felix? Calhoun?" Ralph yells, making Josh, Vanellope, and Felix look over.

"Over here!" Vanellope yells. Ralph runs around the tree. He looks up, only to see Josh and Vanellope sitting on top of the tree. Ralph waves Josh's papers around.

"Come on! Your coming with us!" Ralph yells up.

* * *

A/N End of chapter 11! I hope you liked it. I did. I'm happy! Josh is going "home." Anyways let me know what your thinking! Thank you.


	12. Part of the family

A/N Will everything work out for Josh? Will Ralph and the others be able to handle Josh? Let's find out!

* * *

**_Part of the family_**

Josh's mouth hangs open, as he tries registering what Ralph had just told him. "Home? Your home?" Josh says, though barely audible. Vanellope nods, rapidly, with the biggest grin on her face. Josh's heart fills with hope, and something he hasn't felt in a long time, happiness.  
"Well? Are you coming or not?" Ralph asks, eagerly, waving the two down. Vanellope begins jumping down the branches, halfway down, she looks up at Josh. Waving him down, Josh grins at Vanellope, and quickly follows her down.

As soon as they're at the bottom, Billy is on Josh, wrapping his arms around him. "Let go of him! He's with us now!" Ralph yells, waving the paper around. Billy yanks the paper out of Ralph's hand, and looks it over. Scowling, Billy let's go of Josh, and gives the paper back to Ralph. Josh sticks his tongue out at Billy, runs behind Ralph.

Ralph puts his arm behind Josh's head, and they all walk backwards. Felix watches them take a couple steps, before following them.

The four run back to find Calhoun, and go home. They find her in the backyard, harassing several kids at once. Asking if they've seen Josh.

"Tammy! We found Josh!" Felix says, running over to save the kids, that are currently running away from Calhoun. She stops chasing the kids, to look at Josh.

"Kid." Calhoun says, nodding. Josh nods back, still grinning like an idiot. She follows the three, while Felix hangs back for a second to apologize, to the kids.

The four wait for Felix, in the van. Josh looks out the window, at the orphanage, his smile disappears. Betty wraps her arms around her back. Josh squints his eyes, he sees Betty smiling, creepily, at him, not at the van, not the others, him directly. "Creepy." Vanellope says, looking over Josh's shoulder. Josh nods. "Yeah. Very." He says, before chuckling, nervously. Vanellope pats him on the shoulder, jumps into the seat next to him, and hands him the game-boy.

Josh happily takes it. Felix jumps into the van.  
"Alright let's get the heck outta here." Calhoun says, starting the van, and ripping out of the driveway.

Josh turns his entire body, to watch the orphanage, slowly disappear, out of his life, forever, hopefully.

"So. Why did you guys come back?" Josh asks, extremely curious. Ralph turns his head.  
"Vanellope told us about the 'magic' marks." He says, looking at Josh.

Josh bites his lip. "Why didn't you tell us?" Ralph asks. Josh shrugs. "You never asked." "We shouldn't have needed to." Calhoun says, looking at Josh through the mirror. Josh shakes his head.  
"I was handling my self. I would have gotten away, my first escape, if you guys didn't bring me back." He says, making Ralph and Calhoun look away, knowing he's right.

"Well. If you told us, we wouldn't have taken you back." Felix says. Josh crosses his arms.  
"That's the only reason? What am I, not good enough for this family?" He asks. Felix opens his mouth. Ralph looks at him.  
"It's not like that. It's just...well, we don't know why, but we just had to." Ralph says. Josh sighs, and starts playing the game-boy.

They drive down the road. Calhoun pulls into the parking lot of the restaurant.

Soon they're in the restaurant eating dinner, talking small talk. Josh puts down the fork, just realizing, that he's free, he never has to go back. Suddenly he's smiling again. "Thank you." He says, not looking up from his plate. Ralph looks at Josh, confused.  
"For what?" He asks.  
"Getting me out of there." Josh says, before taking another handful of fries from his plate, and shoving it in his mouth. Ralph smiles, and shakes his head.  
"No problem kid. Anytime."

They finish eating, get back in the van, and drive home.

Calhoun pulls into the driveway, looks at the clock on the van dashboard. "Almost midnight." She says. They all go into the house, Felix and Calhoun go to their room. Ralph brings Josh up to Vanellope's room. Josh tilts his head as the three enter.  
"Why are you bringing me in here?" Josh asks, wondering why he's not being brought into the guest room.  
"Well you can't stay in the guest room, if you're not a guest." Ralph says, pushing the clothes from the top bunk, into a basket on the floor.

Vanellope crawls onto the bottom bunk, instantly, she falls asleep, snoring. Ralph lifts Josh up onto the top bunk, tucks him in, says good night, and goes to bed. Josh shifts around, under the blankets, not feeling...right.

Josh thinks for a moment.  
"Too comfy." He mutters. Kicking the blankets off, the cold air, making him shiver. He hugs himself. "Much better." He says, through chattering teeth. Soon he's asleep, cold, and has never been happier.

**_Next morning_**

Vanellope jumps onto the top bunk, not waking Josh up, but still making him flip over. Vanellope rolls her eyes, sits down next to Josh. She waits for him to wake up. After an hour of watching him sleep, she gets fed up, and starts shaking him. Josh flips onto his stomach, grunts, and tries going back to sleep. Vanellope keeps pushing his shoulder.  
"Come on! Wake up!" She orders. Josh rolls onto his back, accidentally rolling onto Vanellope. She pushes on him, trying to push him off, but he just muffles her, using the pillow, and goes back to sleep.

"Augh! Just...fine." Vanellope says through the pillow, closing her eyes as well.

Downstairs, Felix cooks everyone breakfast, while Ralph reads the newspaper, and Calhoun sits at her laptop. "You know, school starts in a couple weeks." She says. "Yeah so?" Ralph asks.  
"You should think about enrolling Josh in one of the schools around here. If he's gonna be staying here."  
"How old is he? What grade is he in?"  
"I remember him saying he was ten at Dairy queen." Felix says.

Ralph puts the newspaper down. "So grade five? I guess." He says. Calhoun shrugs.  
"I guess. Good enough." She says.  
"Which school should we put him in?" Ralph asks. Felix brings two plates of food over, for Ralph, and Calhoun.

"What about the one little ladies in?" Felix asks.  
"Rushington elementary?" Ralph asks. Felix nods his head. Calhoun starts laughing.  
"He wouldn't last one day there!" She says.  
"Better than nothing." Ralph says, shrugging.  
"Okay! Rushington it is then!" Felix says, happily.

"Ralphhhhh! Josh won't wake up!" Vanellope yells down the stairs. Ralph rolls his eyes, stands up and heads up stairs.

He enters the room, looking at the bottom bunk, expecting to see Vanellope hanging off the railing, but instead is greeted by Josh, laying on the top bunk, asleep, no Vanellope in sight. "Vanellope?"  
"Under here!" Vanellope grunts, popping her head, from under Josh's back.

Ralph walks over, lifts Josh up, allowing Vanellope to get out. Ralph picks Josh up, and brings Josh to the bathroom. Vanellope follows them.  
"What are you doing?" Vanellope asks. Ralph doesn't respond. He place Josh in the tub, and turns the shower on.

Josh jumps out of the tub screaming. He runs out of the bathroom, down the stairs, out the front door, down the street. "Uhhh. What just happened?" Calhoun asks, as the two run down the stairs.  
"I don't know. I turned the shower on Josh, and he just ran away!" Ralph says. Calhoun bolts out the door, and chases Josh.

She returns several minutes later, with a kicking Josh. She puts him down on the couch. "Calm down!" Calhoun yells. Josh opens his eyes, looks around, and instantly calms down. He takes a couple deep breaths, before slowly laying down on the couch.

Vanellope walks in front of Josh.  
"What the heck was that about?" She asks. Josh opens his eyes, and looks at her.  
"Nothing. Just...nothing." He says, closing his eyes again. Ralph walks over.  
"Don't go back to sleep. We have to go shopping." Ralph says. Josh sits up quickly.  
"Shopping? For what?"  
"Your school clothes!

* * *

A/N Yay! Josh has a family! He's going to be going to school! He's getting new clothes! He's afraid of water! 


	13. Shopping Spree

A/N Clothes shopping. Never liked doing it. Boring, tedious, something for the parents to do. At least, that's what I think about it. I'm guessing that someone who wore, basically, the same clothes everyday, would love it. So let's find out.

* * *

**_Shopping spree_**

Josh looks down the aisle, having never seen so many clothes in one place, he remains speechless. Jeans, jogging pants, shorts, all sorts of bottom wear. Ralph pushes the kart, while Vanellope leads Josh through the aisle. "See anything you like?" Ralph asks. Josh grabs a pair of pants off the rack. "These." He says, holding the pants up to Ralph.

Ralph takes the pants, and puts them in the kart. They're all about to keep walking down the aisle, when Ralph looks down. "Uhhh. Where are your shoes?" Ralph asks, pointing at Josh's feet. Josh looks down, at his bare feet, just remembering he ditched his flip flops.  
"I never had shoes. I had flip flops." Josh says, looking back at Ralph.  
"Well. We know what to get you next."  
"What?"  
"Shoes. Doi!" Vanellope says. Josh looks around the store.  
"Where are the shoes?" The other two look around as well.

They search around the store, eventually, they do find the shoes, at the corner of the store.  
"Okay! What size are you?" Ralph asks.  
"I dunno. Never had shoes before. Only flip flops." Josh says, making Ralph cross his arms.  
"Okay...uhhh. We'll just try a bunch of different shoes." He says, grabbing a random pair of shoes off the rack.

After a couple dozen pairs of shoes, and even some boots, they manage to find Josh's shoe size.  
"How do they feel?" Ralph asks.  
"Good. They feel good." He says, as he jogs in place. "What now?"  
"Now..." Ralph begins.  
"Lunch!" Vanellope yells excitedly.  
"Okay. I guess now lunch." Ralph says.

Ralph takes the two to a Denny's down the road. "What school am I going to?" Josh asks.  
"Rushington elementary." Ralph tells him. Vanellope jumps onto her feet, standing on the chair she cheers.

"Your going to my school!" She cheers. Josh scrunches up his face.  
"That's going to be sooooo fun." He says rolling his eyes. Josh keeps eating his food, in silence. While Ralph, and Vanellope talk.

Josh sees a red bottle, sitting on the side of the table. He grabs it, looks it over.  
"What's this?" He asks.  
"Hot sauce." Ralph says.  
"It's nasty! I tried it before, and it burned my tongue!" Vanellope says, taking the bottle away from Josh. "Wimp." He says, taking the bottle back, dumping it on his fries, chicken strips.

Josh picks up one of the fries, slowly places it in his mouth. "Oh my god." Josh says, chewing the fry.  
"I hope you burned you tongue. I'm not not a wimp!" Vanellope says, crossing her arms. Josh shakes his head, swallows the fry.  
"This is the greatest thing, that I have ever tasted." He says.

Josh devours the hot sauce drenched food, while the other two watch him do so. "Dang. You sure do like hot sauce." Ralph says, leaning back in his chair. Josh nods, as he licks the remaining hot sauce off his fingers. "That stuff is amazing." He says.

The other two finish eating, before they all go back to the store.

Vanellope pulls Josh through the aisles of the store, grabbing clothes, from the shelves, racks, anything that could fit Josh. Ralph tries keeping up as best as he can, but falls behind, quite a bit.

Vanellope stops at one of the aisles. "You need a backpack!" She says, pulling Josh down the aisle, filled with school supplies.  
"A backpack for what?" Josh asks.  
"To carry your school stuff. Duh!"

Josh grabs a brown shoulder bag, throws it over his head. He nods in approval.  
"That's a old guy bag." Vanellope says. Josh shakes his head.  
"Your an old guys bag." He teases. Vanellope crosses her arms.  
"That doesn't even make any sense."  
"It doesn't had to. I just..deal with it." Josh says, walking past her, down the aisle.

Josh continues looking around the store, with Vanellope following him. Josh looks behind him, seeing Vanellope still following him, he breaks into a sprint, catching Vanellope of guard, allowing him to get away.

He turns down one of the aisles, then another one, ramming straight into someone, knocking himself, the girl to the ground.

"Crap. Sorry!" Josh says, jumping to his feet. He grabs the girls hand, pulls her up. "Heyyyy. Your kinda cute." Josh says. The girls opens her mouth, speechless. Josh shakes his head. "Oh. Sorry! That was kinda uncalled for...uhh"  
"No. Uhhh...worries." She says.  
"My names Josh."  
"Sarah. Sarah Lampart." She shakes his hand, which he is still holding.  
"Sarah! Come on! We're leaving!" Someone yells.  
"Sorry! I have to go." She says. Josh let's go of her hand, allowing her to walk away.

"See you around Josh!" She yells, waving. Josh slowly waves back.

Suddenly Josh is knocked to the ground, by Vanellope jumping on his back. "Gotcha!" She yells into Josh's ear. Josh looks up, just in time to see Sarah disappear around the corner. "Who was that?"  
"Sarah Lampart." Josh whispers. Vanellope leans closer to his mouth.  
"Who? Sarah?"  
"Yes!" Josh yells, making Vanellope fall off him.  
"Sarah who?"  
"Sarah Lampart."  
"Sounds familiar!" Vanellope says, sitting up. Josh sits up, crosses his legs. The two sit in silence.

"There you two are!" Ralph says, walking down the aisle. The two look at him. "What took you so long?" Vanellope asks.  
"Stores big. Never know what's around every corner." Josh looks back in the direction Sarah went. "Let's go pay for this stuff." Ralph says. Vanellope grabs Josh's arm, pulls him up. Josh throws his bag into the cart. Ralph pushes the cart to the front of the store.

Ralph pays for the clothes, bag. Josh looks beside the register. He sees a couple chocolate bars. His stomach growls, he shrugs.

Ralph takes the two back to the van. Ralph starts the van up. Josh pulls the chocolate bars out of his pocket, opens them, starts eating them quickly. "Uhhh where did you get those?" Ralph asks. Josh just keeps eating the chocolate bars, not responding. Ralph takes the chocolate away from him. "Did you steal these?"  
"No! Okay yes! But I was hungry!" Josh says.  
"I could have just payed for them! You didn't have to steal them!"

Josh crosses his arms.  
"Why didn't you tell me?" He asks.  
"You didn't ask!" Ralph says.  
"Can we just go?" Vanellope ask. Ralph pulls out of the parking lot. He drives away from the store, back to their house.  
"We are not done talking about this." Ralph says, looking at Josh

* * *

A/N There you go! Hope you liked it!


	14. Manners Matter

A/N Josh is just a little trouble maker. It's not his fault, it's just how he was raised by his paren...OH WAIT! He wasn't raised by his parents. Anyways, here is chapter 14.

* * *

**_Manners Matter _**

Ralph sits silently, frowning at Josh, while Josh, just sits, crossed legged, arms crossed, frowning back. "Well?" Ralph says, trying to get Josh to admit it.  
"No. I can sit here a lot longer than you can. I have all day." Josh says, determined to beat Ralph. Vanellope groans.  
"Come on! Just say it so we can leave!" She orders, not wanting to sit there another hour. Josh shakes his head slowly, nowhere near giving up.

They've been sitting there for nearly two hours now. Ralph trying to get Josh, to admit that stealing is wrong, and that he shouldn't do it. But Josh won't, saying that, "Its survival of the smartest." Josh won't budge, knowing that, if he never stole, then he never would have made it this far in life.

Ralph narrows his eyes, and leans forward. Josh mimics his movement, making Ralph sigh. "Alright fine. Let's go." Ralph says, standing up. Josh jumps to ground, off the railing of the bridge. Then follows Ralph back to the van.

The three get into the van, and drive down the road, back home.

Ralph pulls into the driveway. He sees the garage door open, and Felix, working on a broken down lotus elise. He gets out, to go see why Felix is working on the car. Josh grabs the bags of clothes from the trunk, and goes inside.

"Hey Felix! What are you...what you got there?" Ralph says. Felix closes the hood of the car.  
"Just this car. I'm working on it, so me and Tammy don't have to borrow the van all the time." He says, looking at Ralph.  
"Oh okay. That's great!" Ralph says enthusiastically. Felix nods.  
"Just need some spare parts, it should take...oh I don't know, a couple months." He says, spinning his wrench around. Ralph nods.  
"Well good luck with that, I'm gonna head inside, and start dinner." He says, walking to the front door.

Josh shoves his new clothes into a dresser Ralph had cleared for him. Vanellope runs into the room, turns on the tv, and jumps onto her bottom bunk.

"What are you going to watch?" Josh asks, closing the dresser.  
"Adventure time!" She says, grinning. Josh lays down on his back.  
"Never hear of it." He says, placing his arms under his head. Vanellope looks at him, shocked.  
"Really? With Finn and Jake. You haven't heard of it?" She asks. Josh shakes his head, before closing his eyes.  
"You know. It's not like we had a billion inch hd tv at the orphanage." He says.

Vanellope grabs his shoulder, pulling him up to a sitting position. "Then watch!" She orders. Josh rolls his eyes. He looks at the television as the show comes on.

**_Downstairs_**

Calhoun sits in front of her laptop, while Ralph cooks the food. "So Josh stole some chocolate earlier." Ralph says nonchalantly, as if it's no big deal. Calhoun looks up from her laptop. "He what? Stole some chocolate?" She asks. Ralph nods his head.  
"From the store. When I was paying for the clothes."  
"Why didn't you just pay for them?"  
"He didn't tell me he took them."

Calhoun closes her laptop. "That kid is going to get you in a butt load of trouble." She tells Ralph. He nods in agreement.  
"I think we can change him. Make him...public worthy." He says, turning the stove on. Calhoun leans backwards.  
"It'll probably take all four of us, just to make him go to school." She says. Ralph takes the perogies , and fries out of the freezer, puts them on the pan, puts them in the oven, then closes the oven.

"Think he's ready for school? Maybe we should home school him for..." Ralph pauses to think, "a couple years." He finishes. Calhoun shrugs, not really caring.  
"Be my guest." She says, opening her laptop again.

Ralph shakes his head, before leaving the kitchen, and going up stairs. "Hey Josh." Ralph says entering the room. Josh ignores him, keeping his attention on the television. "Josh?"  
"Yeah?" Josh says, still looking at the tv.  
"We need to talk, to you." Ralph says. Josh puts his index finger up.  
"In a bit. Watching tv." He says.  
"No. Now." Ralph says, turning the tv off.  
"Hey! I was watching that too!" Vanellope says, using the remote to turn it back on.

Josh slides off the bed, onto the floor, still on his stomach. "Fine. I'll talk to you." Josh says, crawling towards Ralph.  
"Why don't you just stand up?" Ralph asks.  
"That involves effort." Josh says, just reaching Ralph's feet. Ralph rolls his eyes.  
"Okay. Just hurry up." Ralph says, walking out of the room.

Ralph, Calhoun, and Felix, sit around the dinner table, waiting for Josh.  
"You told him to hurry, right?" Calhoun says. Ralph nods. Josh crawls into the kitchen, still on his stomach, and sluggishly makes his way across the ground, to one of the chairs. Once he reaches it, he climbs up onto it, and sits down. "Sheesh. Did you crawl down the stairs?" Ralph asks. Josh nods his head.  
"Walking is too much effort." He says. Calhoun shakes her head.

"Schools starting in two weeks." Ralph says. Josh tilts his head.  
"Yeah. I got the clothes, supplies. What else do I need?" He asks.  
"You need to work on...making your self more...gentleman like." Felix says. Josh crosses his arms.  
"Why? What's wrong with how I am now?"  
"You're trouble. You need to be fixed!" Calhoun says.  
"Well. I wouldn't say he needs to be fixed. Just adjusted to society." Felix says.

"Just to stop stealing, things like that." Ralph says. Josh listens as the adults list things that are wrong with him. He sighs.  
"Okay, okay. I get it. What are you guys going to do?" He says.  
"Just teach you how to behave." Felix says.  
"Change you entirely." Calhoun says.  
"We are not changing him! Just behaveifying him." Ralph says.  
"That's not a word." Josh says.  
"Doesn't matter. We're doing it!"

Josh crosses his legs on the chair. The three look at him. He closes his eyes, and starts meditating. Ralph raises an eyebrow. "What are you doing?" He asks.  
"You guys are pissing me off."  
"Language!" Felix says, covering Josh's mouth.

Josh licks Felix's palm, making him pull his hand away. "Did you just lick me?" Josh nods his head, before going back to meditating. Ralph groans.  
"Okay. Fine. We won't nag you. Just stop stealing stuff, harassing people, stuff like that." Ralph orders. Josh opens his eyes, smiles, and nods his head.

"Okay! Supper time!" Felix says. Walking over to the oven. He pulls the pan out of the oven, and places it on top of the stove.  
"Vanellope supper!" Ralph yells up the stairs. She's in the kitchen, sitting at the table within seconds. Ready to eat.

After supper Vanellope and Josh are back in their room. Vanellope playing games. Josh reading one of Vanellope's few books.  
"This book is amazing. Kids fighting to the death. I love it." Josh says, flipping through the pages.  
"They're not ALL kids you know. Some are like teens." Vanellope says.  
"Well there's Rue. She seems cool. She climbs and jumps trees, like me." He says, closing the book.

Ralph walks into the room. "Okay! Time for bed." He says clapping his hands. Josh and Vanellope groan simultaneously.  
"Come on! Ten more minutes. I'm in the middle of a game!" Vanellope says.  
"Just save it." Ralph says, crossing his arms.  
"You can't save online games. Doi!" She says, turning her attention back to the game. Ralph looks at Josh.  
"And what are you doing?" He asks. Josh holds up the book.  
"Learning how to defend myself, in case I ever get throw into an arena where I have to kill people." He says opening the book again.

Ralph rolls his eyes. "Okay. Ten more minutes. Then bed." He says walking out of the room.  
"He's kinda a pushover." Josh says, scanning the book, not actually reading it. Vanellope giggles. She finishes the game, then turns her Xbox off. She jumps onto her bunk, and pulls the blanket above her. Josh closes the book, then jumps onto his bunk.

"Two weeks until school." Vanellope whispers to Josh.  
"Can't wait." Josh says enthusiastically, honestly excited.  
"Night." She says.  
"Goodnight." He says pulling the pillow under his head.

* * *

A/N School. Josh is going to be eaten alive. Or he'll eat them alive. Either way, someones being eaten.


	15. Welcome to the jungle

A/N Yes! Cereal146 just yes. I love that idea, and I will be doing it. Thank you very much! And yes it was the hunger games he was reading. Thank you The Not-so-Ultimate writer! Here is chapter 15!

* * *

**_Welcome to the jungle_**

The past two weeks have been the time of Josh's life. From laser tag, to 3-D movies, amusement parks, even shopping. The five have done a lot, but not it all. Their fun had to be cut short, as school is now starting.

Josh has just finished changing into his new clothes, when Calhoun starts yelling at Vanellope to wake up. She turns her attention to Josh. "Breakfast is on the table." She says. Josh nods his head, and heads down stairs.

Josh eats his cereal, as he listens to Calhoun ordering Vanellope around. Calhoun storms into the kitchen. She sees Josh eating his cereal. "Are you still not done? Hurry up!" She barks. Josh swallows the cereal in his mouth.  
"Would it kill you to say please?" He asks. Calhoun glares at him, but calms down.

"If I am curt with you, it is because time is a factor. I think fast, I talk fast, and I need you two to act fast if you want to get on the bus." Calhoun says calmly. "So pretty please, with a cherry on top," She says leaning down towards Josh. "GO AND BRUSH YOU FRIKEN TEETH!" She yells. Josh drops the spoon, runs out of the kitchen, up the stairs, and into the bathroom. He slams the door behind him, breathing heavily.  
"She is insane."

He grabs his tooth brush, and sloppily squirts the tooth paste on. He brushes his teeth, picks up the comb to brush his hair, but Vanellope knocks on the door.  
"Hurry! The bus is going to be here soon!" She says. Josh groans, before dropping the comb. He opens the bathroom door, and follows Vanellope down the stairs, out the door. He stops, remembering he left his backpack in the kitchen.

He runs back into the house. Calhoun whips the backpack at Josh, who catches it with ease. He nods, thanks her, and runs back outside. Vanellope waves Josh down the road. He speeds up, to get to the bus stop.

Vanellope watches Josh bolt down the road. She spots the bus not to far away. She waves wildly, not wanting Josh to miss the bus. He leans forward, swinging his arms, running as fast as he can. Unfortunately it was too fast. He slams right into Vanellop, not knowing how close he was. They both fall onto the ground, just as the bus stops next to them. The kids already on the bus saw the whole thing, and are now laughing, pointing. Vanellope pushes Josh off of her. Josh stands up, then helps Vanellope up.

Josh hangs his head down, avoiding the stares, laughs, from the kids. Vanellope on the other hand, keeps her chin up, staring the kids down. Josh picks an empty seat at the back of the bus. Vanellope sits down next to him. "Not exactly off to a great start." Vanellope says, nudging Josh with her elbow. Josh nods his head, before looking out the window.

The bus drives down the road. Thankfully the kids have calmed down, well they stopped laughing at Josh as Vanellope. They however have not calmed down. Josh finds it hard to ignore the yelling of the kids. Vanellope seems to do it easily.  
"Is it always like this?" Josh asks.  
"Yup! Everyday, every ride." Vanellope says, looking down the aisle. Josh groans.  
"I am already not liking school."  
"Don't worry. You'll get use to how bad it is."

"I hope. Do you have any friends here?" Josh asks.  
"I had a couple. I don't know if they're still here though." She says. Josh nods.  
"Well. We're boned." He says.  
"I'll stick with you. If you stick with me." Vanellope says. Josh looks at her.  
"What grade are you in?"

"I'm in grade four. What about you?"  
"I'm in grade five. So I'm guessing we have no classes together." Vanellope shrugs.  
"There's always lunch, and recess." Josh smiles.  
"We had recess back at the orphanage. I liked it. It was the one good thing there."

The bus drives up the hill to the school. Josh looks out the window expectantly. He sees a large beige colored building. "Is that the school?" Josh asks.  
"Yup! That is Rushington elementary." Vanellope says.

Josh opens his bag. Vanellope looks down at it. "Why did you take that old man bag?" She asks. Josh looks at her.  
"It is not an old man bag! It's an amazing bag." He says taking his water bottle out.  
"Water?" She asks. Josh shakes his head.  
"I snuck some root beer out of Ralph's stash." He says, taking a drink out of the blue bottle, with a built in straw.

The bus stops at the front of the store, the doors slide open, allowing the kids to exit. The kids run to the school. Josh lingers behind, walking rather slowly.  
"Come on grandpa! We have to beat everyone to the gym, if we want good seats!" Vanellope yells pulling Josh towards the entrance.

She pulls him through the green doors, that are made out of glass. Josh sees the lunch room to his left as they enter. In between the hallway and gym, is what looks like some sort of small shop, with bags, pencils, pens, basically school supplies covering the walls. Someone pulls the cover down, closing the shop. To the right of the shop is the gym. Vanellope pulls Josh in. She frowns when she sees that a lot of seats have already been taken.

"Well good going. We have to sit on the floor now." She mutters to Josh.  
"Hey I didn't tell you to drag me."  
"Okay! I know. Lets just go find somewhere to sit." She says.

Vanellope brings Josh to the front of the bleachers, and sits down. Josh sits down next to her.  
"Hey! I'm Cameron." Cameron whispers to Josh.  
"Hello. I'm Josh." He whispers back. Cameron extends his hand out. Josh takes it, and shakes it.  
"I'm guessing you new here."  
"Yeah. Just got enrolled."  
"Haha! Ahh. Good luck buddy." Cameron says. Josh shakes his head.

The principle, a short balding man, with a little white hair left, bounces onto the stage energetically. He taps on the mic, to get the kids attention.  
"Hello students of Rushington!" He says.  
"Hello mister Casey!" A majority of the students yell.  
"Welcome to another fabulous year of school! Now. Let's get right to it!"

Mr Casey goes through the introduction speech, which is a good half hour, before assigning each grade, to a couple teachers. Josh, along with a bunch of other fifth graders get herded into the cafeteria, for their schedules.

Four teachers are given a list of students names. These students will be in their first block class. Josh sits patiently, bag at side, waiting for his name to be called.

"A Josh Wreckington!" A familiar voice calls. Josh looks up. "Wreckkngton? Josh Wreckington?" Josh tilts his head.  
"Did Ralph sign me up with his last name." Josh thinks to himself.  
His name is called again. Josh stands up.

"Ah! There you are my friend! Come, come. You are in my class!" Mohawk man yells happily. Josh walks up, to stand behind the mohawk man. He looks over his list once more before nodding. "That is all for me! Good luck comrades." Zangief says to the other teachers. He leads the kids back to the gymnasium.

He makes them sit crowded together in front of him. "Hello! You can call me mister Z" Zangief says, looking at his clipboard. One of the kids raises their hand. "Yes? What is?" Zangief says. "What class is this?" The kid asks. Zangief laughs. "This is gym my friend!" The kid nods his head. Zangief nods back.  
"So who here plays sports?" He asks.

No one raises their hand, but one of the kids point at Josh.  
"He ran really fast at the bus today." He says. Josh shakes his head.  
"Really? You run?" Zangief asks. Josh shrugs.  
"I had to do a LOT of running." He says. Zangief claps his hands.  
"This is good. You will be great! Now...how about a little warm up? Who here has heard of dodge ball?"

* * *

A/N Yay! Gym! Zangief! First day of school! In case you did't know Mr Casey is King candy. Get it? KC. HAHAH...well I thought it was funny. I'm trying to think of people to put in Josh's classes, but I don't know who. Any suggestions?


	16. A good start

A/N I remember dodgeball in elementary, middle school. One of the few things I remember being decent at. Also I made Gene the vice principal. Thanks for reminding me of him cereal146!

* * *

**_A good start_**

Swizzle whips the ball across the room. Upon hitting the kid Swizzle pumps his fist in the air triumphantly. As he's celebrating Josh hits him with a ball, sending him to the bench. Josh doesn't celebrate. Instead he's right back into the game, focused on not the enemies, or even his teammates, but the balls, as they fly past him. He rolls away from the ball that ends up hitting the kid behind him.

"Catch a ball!" Gloyd yells at Josh. "I'll try!" Josh yells back.  
"Don't try! Just do!" Josh doesn't know why, but he doesn't like this kid yelling at him. Josh catches a ball anyways, just to shut Gloyd up. Another ball gets thrown at Josh. He ducks just in time. Another ball gets thrown at him, he leans to the left. Unfortunately he loses his balance, and falls onto the ground. A ball slowly rolls toward him. He watches as it rolls across the center line towards him.

He stops the ball using his hand, stands up, and whips the ball at the first person he sees, which unfortunately happened to be the vice principle. Josh winces as the vice principal falls onto the ground. "Josh!" The vp yells.

Josh sits legs crossed on a chair in the office, waiting for the vp to call him in. After a couple minutes of sitting he finally gets called in.

"Josh Wreckington...the adopted kid." Gene says putting some papers away. Josh nods his head. "Why did you hit me with a ball?" Gene asks. Josh shrugs.  
"You looked like one of the students. You are pretty short." He says. Gene scowls at Josh.  
"Okay. A couple weeks of detention should do." Josh tilts his head.

"Detention? Is that like the play room at the orphanage, because I hated that." Josh says. Gene stays silent, and hands Josh a slip of paper. He takes it and looks at it. It is signed by Gene, showing the days of the week he will be attending detention...everyday.

"Now shoo. I have important things to attend to." Gene says waving Josh out.  
"Alright! Catch ya later Hoss!" Josh says jumping off the chair, and walking out of Genes office.

When Josh walks out of the office, he is stopped by Zangief. "Hello Joshua!" Zangief says.  
"Heya mister Z!" Josh says. Zangief hands Josh his schedule.  
"These are your classes. Good luck! I will see you tomorrow!" Zangief says walking away.

Josh looks down at his schedule, then groans. "What's the matter now?" Vanellope asks. Josh turns the schedule towards her.  
"I have math next...I don't like math." Josh says. Vanellope laughs.  
"Who's the teacher?" Josh looks at the schedule.  
"Mister Sours...funny name." Josh says. Vanellope laughs again.  
"There are a lot of funny names at this school." She says. Josh puts the schedule in his bag.  
"Well I'm going to find room 135." Josh says walking down the hall.

"I guess I'll see you later!" Vanellope yells. Josh throws her a thumbs up, but keeps walking.

He finds room 135. He's about to enter when someone grabs his shoulder. "What's the big..." He begins, but stops when he sees Sarah standing before him.  
"Josh! You're going to this school? That's great!" She cheers. Josh opens his mouth to say something, but nothing comes out.  
"Is this your class? It's mine too! Let's go!" She says dragging Josh into the classroom.

She places Josh on a chair, and sits down next to him. "Hello..." Mr Sours says, scanning the classroom. He brings a clipboard close to his face. "Albert?" He says looking up. "Here!" Albert says throwing his hand in the air. Mr Sours goes through the list of students. Josh sees Vanellope running down the hall, followed shortly by a couple other kids. Josh stands up. He looks at mr Sours, waiting for him to look away. As soon as he does Josh bolts out the door, down the hallway, in the direction Vanellope ran.

He walks slowly, staying close to the wall. He hears kids laughing around the corner; he stops, looks around the corner, and sees a couple kids in a half circle, around another kid. "Come on! Just leave me alone!" Vanellope yells. Josh narrows his eyes, and sneaks up behind the kids; he crosses his arms, waiting for them to notice him. They don't.

Josh coughs, making the kids jump, startled by him. Rancis sees Josh. "Oh...it's just the adopted kid." He says turning his attention back to Vanellope. Josh scowls at Rancis, grabs his shoulder, spins him around, then raises his fist. Rancis flinches away. Josh steps in front of Vanellope, waving his arms around, like he knows kung fu or something.

The kids back away, not wanting to find out if he actually knows how to fight. "Okay. Okay. Were leaving." Gloyd says. Josh crosses his arms.  
"He won't be around to protect you forever!" Taffyta yells as she, and the other kids run away. Josh picks up a rock, then chucks it at them, it flies through the air, and hits Rancis in the back of the head, knocking him to the ground.  
"That's what you think!" Josh yells.

Josh helps Vanellope up. "What were they doing to you?" He asks.  
"They're just a bunch of jerks." Vanellope says, wiping herself off. Josh nods his head.  
"Ditching class, bullying other students, hurting said students with rocks. All very bad. Very bad." Gene says, scribbling furiously away on his clipboard. Josh watches as Gene walks around the corner.

"Howdy Hoss." Josh says.  
"Do not call me Hoss." Gene says tucking his clipboard under his arm.  
"Okay. What's going on short stuff?" Vanellope giggles. Gene glares at her.  
"Come with me mr Wreckington. We will call your paren...guardians." Gene turns and walks towards the school. Josh turns to Vanellope.  
"Go to class." He orders. Vanellope nods, then runs into the school. Josh follows Gene into the school, back to the office.

Josh sits silently, while Ralph talks to Gene. "I am very sorry Gene. I promise it will not happen again." Ralph says. Gene folds his fingers.  
"It is not your fault Ralph. These problems usually come with...these types of kids." He says. Ralph narrows his eyes.  
"What do you mean, these types?"  
"Orphans. Nothing but trouble makers. No one to properly raise them. I say just take him back." Ralph clenches his fists. "He is not your problem. Dump him off on some porch like his parents did." Gene says. Ralph places his fists on the table, and leans closer to Gene.  
"I have a few words for you..."

Felix pulls the van up, and runs up the stairs, into the door. Josh looks up at the door. "Josh! Where is Ralph?" Felix asks. Josh points to the cell that Ralph has been locked up in. Felix runs over. "Oh my land. What happened?" Ralph looks up from the cement floor.  
"It's a long story." He says. Felix nods his head.  
"Don't worry. I'll have you out in a jiffy." He says walking over to a group of police officers.

The three drive home silently, not wanting to talk. Josh looks out the window, watching as people drive, walk, run, and bike by. "He's right you know." Josh says. Ralph looks back at Josh. "Who's right?" He asks.  
"Mr Gene. He's right."

* * *

A/N Dang. Josh is not doing so well. Oh well. I'm sure he'll be fine.


	17. New kid New problem

A/N Change up...what has Betty been up to? Let's find out.

* * *

_**New kid=New problem**_

The short plump lady, and tall well built man, both with black hair and green eyes, sit in front of Betty's desk, as Betty searches for the file they want very badly.

"Ah here we are." Betty says taking the file out of the desk. She slides the file over to the two.

"So their address is here?" The lady asks. Betty nods her head.

"Yes. I wish you two luck." She says.

"Thank you miss Betty. For everything." The lady says shaking her hand. The man shakes Betty's hand as well.

The two exit Betty's office. The lady opens the file, showing a picture of Josh.

**_Rushington elementary_**

Josh, Vanellope, Sarah and Candlehead sit around the table in the lunch room. Josh throws his spoon down.

"Okay I gotta ask. Why the heck does everyone call you Candlehead?" He says looking at Candlehead. Sarah and Vanellope chuckle. Candlehead sighs.

"In grade two, at my birthday party when we were getting ready to eat the cake I accidentally knocked the table over, and the cake fell on my head...with the candle on top of it." She says.

Josh bites his lip, suppressing a smile. Candlehead looks down at her lunch. Josh shakes his head and pats her on the back.

"I'm sorry. That sucks." He says. Candlehead looks up smiling. She shrugs.

"Its not that bad." She says.

The bell rings, signalling third block. Josh pulls his schedule out of his bag.

"Science...with Satan?" Josh says. Candlehead looks over his shoulder.

"No. Its mister Sateen. I'm in that class too! Let's go!" She says pulling Josh to the class room.

The two sit near the back of the class talking while waiting for mister Sateen to show up.

"What kinda name is Sateen?" Josh asks. Candlehead shrugs.

"He's from a weird place too. I can't remember where, but I was told it was hot there."

"Uhm excuse me. Your in my seat." Taffyta says to Josh, making him look at her. "Move. Like now." She orders. Josh gives her a sweet smile.

"Oh my apologies." He says standing up.

"Hmph. There maybe hope for you yet." Taffyta says. She goes to sit down, but Josh pulls the chair away at the last second, making her fall onto the ground.

The kids start laughing at Taffyta as she scrambles to her feet.

"Oh you are so done for." Taffyta says walking to a different seat. Josh shakes his head and sits down.

"She will end your social life." Candlehead whispers. Josh leans back in his chair.

"Didn't have much of one anyways." He says.

Mister Sateen walks into the classroom. The kids go silent. He looks around.

"Sorry class. I got a little held up at burger king." He says sitting down at his desk.

"Hello mister Sateen." The class says. Josh looks around.

"Do kids do that in every class?" He asks. Candlehead nods her head. Josh shakes his head.

"Welcome to science!" He days throwing his arms in the air. The kids remain silent. Josh sees no one particularly excited, so he starts clapping. Candlehead hears this, so she starts clapping as well. Soon a majority of the class is clapping. Mister Sateen takes a couple bows. The class begins cheering.

"Thank you! Thank you! I know how exciting science is!" He says sitting down again. The class begins calming down.

Mister Sateen begins introducing the class to the basics of science. The students listen quietly, actually very interested in the lesson. Josh smiles to himself.

Once the lesson ends, the kids are on their way to their fourth block. Josh once again takes his schedule out and looks it over, to see which class he has next. Before he gets to see the paper is slapped out of his hand. Josh looks up to see Taffyta standing there with Rancis behind her. Taffyta snaps her fingers and points at Josh.

"Get him Rancis." She orders. Josh crosses his arms, as Rancis walks up to him. Usually slouching Josh looks to be about the same height as Rancis, but Josh straightens his back up, making him stand a good two inches above Rancis.

"You wanna go pretty boy?" Josh asks. Rancis slowly shakes his head and begins backing away, but bumps into Taffyta. "You better run. Or I'm going to go all Bruce lee on you." Josh threatens. Rancis turns, pushes Taffyta out of the way and runs away. Josh shakes his head.

"Your such a wimp!" Taffyta yells as Rancis runs down the hall. She turns her attention to Josh. "This isn't over. Watch your back." She says walking away. Josh shrugs and picks up his schedule.

"Alrighty then lets see..." He looks through his schedule, but doesn't get to his class. Someone places their hand on Josh's shoulder. Josh turns to face the person. He's short, not unbelievably short, but not tall. Orange short hair, a smile that tells Josh that he's friendly.  
"Hello Joshua. My name is Clyde. I am the school counselor."

"Hello Clyde. Josh." He says extending his hand out. Clyde takes his hand and shakes it.  
"Please follow me to my office." Clyde says walking past Josh. Josh follows him without question.

* * *

A/N Thank you cereal for the Clyde idea!


	18. The three amigos

A/N How much Josh's does it take to fix a light bulb? A lot, because he probably broke it in the first place. That doesn't make sense...but what do I care? It's Josh.

* * *

**_The three amigos_**

Clyde pours a cup of hot chocolate for Josh, as Josh sits down on the wheel chair and starts playing with it, doing wheelies, donuts. Clyde sits down on his chair, then hands the cup to Josh as he pulls up in front of the desk.

"So I've been hearing you've been having a little trouble with the other kids." Clyde says. Josh puts the cup down and starts laughing.  
"A little? I haven't had a good moment with them yet." He says. Clyde nods as he writes something down. Josh picks up his cup again and starts drinking.  
"Right. Well I can't do much about the kids, but I can help you with...other problems."

"What kind of problems?" Josh asks. Clyde shrugs.  
"Anything really: School, home, classes, lunch. Stuff like that." Josh nods his head.

"I could go for something to eat right now." Josh says. Clyde nods. He pulls one of the drawers in his desk open and grabs a couple for Josh, then places them down on his desk. Josh grabs one, opens it and starts eating it. He quickly finishes it, now satisfied.  
"Well is that all you need?" Clyde asks. Josh nods his head. "You better get to class. Don't want to be too late." Josh nods again. He spins the wheelchair around, jumps off and exits Clyde's office.

Josh pulls his schedule out of his bag, to find out what class he has next. He nods and runs down the hall to his class.

Being late, he is the last one to class, so when he enters, everyone's attention is turned to him, as he walks silently to the table with Gloyd and Rancis.

"Thank you for joining us mister Wreckington." Eggman says. Josh nods as he sits down. "Now where was I?" Eggman says.

Gloyd leans forward towards Josh. "Hey. I'm Gloyd." He says extending his hand. Josh takes his hand and shakes it, giving him a weird look. "What?" Gloyd asks. Josh looks at Rancis, then back at Gloyd.  
"Rancis, Taffyta, Gloyd...what is with all the weird names? What ever happened to...I don't know, Francis, Tiffany, Floyd...or something? Seriously. Josh...my names Josh." He says. Gloyd shrugs.

"So do you play sports?" Gloyd asks. Josh shrugs.  
"I probably could. Haven't put much thought into it though. Why?"

"Me and Rancis play on a lacrosse team. We need more players. You did pretty good in that dodge ball game yesterday." Josh leans back in his chair and thinks.  
"So you want me to join this team?" He asks. Gloyd nods.  
"We could use all the help we can get." He says.

"I'll have to ask Ralph. I'll get back to you with that."

Gloyd nods and turns his attention back to Eggman. Josh does the same. The lesson goes on, Eggman teaches them how to use the computers around the room, how to play the educational games that have been installed onto them. Josh doesn't do so well. One of the games he must answer math questions by clicking the right balloons as they float by. Math not being his strongest subject, Josh sits silently starting at the screen.

"Eh...what are you doing?" Gloyd asks.

"Waiting for the balloons to run out of air." Josh says, making Gloyd laugh. Josh joins him. The two laugh for a bit before getting barked at by Eggman.

The class ends, meaning school is over as well. The kids run excitedly out of the class room as fast as they can. Gloyd, Josh and Rancis walk out of the class room.

"So this lacrosse, is it any fun?" Josh asks.

"Butt loads of fun!" Gloyd says. "You get to hit people...well what other reasons do you need to play?" He asks, looking at Josh. Josh smiles.  
"None. I'm in." Josh says looking back at Gloyd. The two look at Rancis.

"What?" Rancis asks.  
"What are your plans for after school?" Gloyd asks. Rancis shrugs.  
"I wasn't planning on doing anything." He says. Gloyd nods his head.  
"Good. We have to teach Josh how to play."  
"Oh okay. I have to run home and grab my gear then."

The three exit the school. Rancis waves at the two as he runs down the hill.  
"Okay. Let's head to my house. I have an extra stick you can borrow." Gloyd says. Josh tilts his head.  
"Stick? What do I need a stick for?" He asks.  
"Well how else do you expect to catch a ball? You need the stick to play." Josh nods his head, but has no idea how a stick is going to catch a ball.

**_Gloyd's house_**

Josh follows Gloyd into his room. Immediately he is surprised by the amount of trophies on Gloyd's desk, walls, and even floor.

"Wow. You have a lot of trophies."

"Yeah. I've been playing for a long time. Since I was five...so five years. Not very long, but pretty long." Gloyd walks over to one of the walls with a couple lacrosse sticks on it. He grabs two, one for him, another for Josh.

"Okay it's really simple. Just catch the ball with this." Gloyd says tapping the head of the stick. Josh holds the stick up, while Gloyd walks to the other side of his room. Gloyd under hands the ball in an arc towards Josh. He catches it with ease. "Looking good."

Gloyd keeps passing the ball, Josh keeps catching it. Rancis shows up after a while, with his stick and pads. Rancis takes his gear out of his bag and hands the gear to Josh.  
"What am I supposed to do with this?" Josh asks.  
"Try it on. You need to learn how to put the gear on." Rancis says. Josh shrugs and puts all the gear on.

Josh lets Gloyd and Rancis check him wit their sticks. Josh manages to hold his ground. He picks up the stick Gloyd let him use, and starts hitting them back. He checks them both to the ground. Smirking he takes the helmet off.  
"I think this friendship will work out just fine." He says extending his hand. Gloyd grabs it. Josh pulls him up, then he helps Rancis up.  
"Sorry..you know about Vanellope." Rancis says. Josh nods his head.  
"You better be. Do it again and I'll be the crap out of you." He says. Rancis nods his head. Josh takes Rancis's gear off and gives it back.

"What time is it?" Josh asks, as the three sit down on the couches inside. Gloyd looks at the clock on the wall.  
"It's almost four. Why?" He says. Josh jumps to his feet.  
"Shoot. Ralph is going to kill me. I have to get home." He says. Gloyd jumps up as well.  
"You can borrow my skateboard. You'll be much faster." He says.

Josh zooms down the road on Gloyd's skateboard. He turns a sharp corner, forgetting about the hill. The skateboard begins speeding up, wobbling. Speed wobbles. Josh begins losing his balance, but manages to stay on the skateboard. He sees Ralph's house at the bottom of the hill. A car flies past Josh, startling him, making him turn onto the sidewalk. The cracks in the sidewalk bounce the skateboard up and down. Josh straightens himself out and makes it to the bottom of the hill.

He tries making the skateboard jump, but instead hits the lip of the sidewalk. He flies forward into Ralph's front yard. He groans and flips onto his back. Ralph and two other people run out to him.  
"Josh? Are you okay? What happened?" Ralph asks. Josh opens his eyes and looks up at Ralph.  
"Gloyd let me borrow his skateboard. I rode it here." He says. Ralph helps Josh onto his feet and brushes him off. Josh looks at the two people behind Ralph.

They walk in front of Ralph, looking at Josh with stunned expressions. Josh crosses his arms, not liking being looked at.

"Take a picture. It'll last longer." He says. The lady wraps her arm around him and pulls him in for a hug. Josh looks up at Ralph, hoping for some help. Ralph stands still rubbing the back of his head.  
"Josh...uhh. Well meet Bonnie and Phil. They're you're parents."

* * *

A/N I'm speechless!


	19. Gaming Session

A/N Family matters. Even if they abandoned you on the door step of an orphanage and left you to fend for yourself in said orphanage for nine years.

* * *

**_Game session_**

Josh pushes Bonnie away and rolls behind Ralph. Ralph wraps his arm protectively around Josh's head.

"Sorry. He's not very trusting." Ralph says. Bonnie nods her head.

"Very understandable." She says. Josh grabs the back of Ralph's shirt, making him look down. Josh shakes his head. Ralph raises an eyebrow. Josh looks at the two adults that have claimed to be his parents. He narrows his eyes.

"Sure I look a little like them, we three have green eyes and black hair, sure I kinda look like the dude and chick, but how can you be sure they're telling the truth?"

Bonnie kneels down in front of Ralph's legs.

"We were low on money. We couldn't take care of you. We had to leave you at the orphanage so you would live, so we could see you when you grow up. And now you are grown up!" She says. Josh tightens his grip on Ralph's shirt.

"We should continue this inside. Looks like it's about to rain." Ralph says.

"There's nothing to continue." Josh says stepping out from behind Ralph.

Josh walks over to Gloyd's skateboard, picks it up and storms into the house, followed shortly by Ralph, Bonnie and Phil.

"Come on son. Be reasonable." Phil says Josh throws the skateboard to the side as he enters the living room. Vanellope jumps out of the way of the board, then looks at Josh.

"Watch it Bub!" She says as Josh storms up the stairs. She shakes her head head and follows him.

Ralph, Bonnie and Phil stop in the living room and sit on the couches. Josh slams the bedroom door behind him, making the three wince. Vanellope opens the door and walks into their room. Josh lays on his back, staring intently at the ceiling. Vanellope climbs up to the top bunk and sits down next to him.

"What's up?" She asks. Josh looks at her and shakes his head. "Okay...who are those people?" Josh shakes his head again.

"I don't know. But I don't like them." Josh says looking back at the ceiling. Vanellope lays down on her stomach. "Even if they are my parents, I wouldn't care. They left me at the orphanage nine years ago." Vanellope rolls onto her back next to Josh. She sticks one of her feet into Josh's face. He pushes it away. She shoves it in his face again, giggling. Josh fakes a gag, then starts laughing. Vanellope does as well.

"Your feet stink." Josh says pushing her foot away. Vanellope giggles and sits up again. Josh does as well.

"Nothing new." She says. Josh rolls his eyes. "Now how about we play some hero's duty?" Vanellope asks jumping to the floor.

"Your going down princess." Josh says jumping down next to her.

"No! First your going down! And second I would never be a princess, I would be like a president or something." Josh shakes his head chuckling.

"Sure. You believe that." He says picking up the controller. Vanellope picks up her controller as well. Josh turns the Xbox and his controller on.

Vanellope starts the game. It starts off well for Josh, but when the cybugs start attacking both Josh and Vanellope have to run away. Vanellope throws a grenade ahead of themselves. She jumps over it. Just as Josh is getting closer, it blows up, sending him backwards into the cybug horde. Vanellope wins the game. She jumps to her feet and points a finger at Josh's face.

"Told ya I would win!" She says. Josh shakes his head.

"What's this game?" Josh asks picking up a pink cased game.

"Sugar Rush. Never played it. I have no idea what it's about." Vanellope says. Josh takes the game out and puts it in the Xbox. He starts the game.

"S-U-G-A-R jump into your racing kart! I say Sugar Rush! Sugar Rush!" Josh smiles and presses start.

"Create a kart...sounds fun." Josh says selecting it. A screen of candy karts pop up. Josh selects a caramel brown kart with a white stripe going down the middle. He bakes his kart and begins driving, well tries driving, but doesn't do all that well at first. At FIRST. Soon though he's speeding through the levels with relative ease.

"Let me try!" Vanellope orders reaching for the controller. Josh holds it away as he swerves around the gumballs. Vanellope jumps for the controller, but Josh rolls away and keeps driving. She jumps onto him and yanks the controller away. She yells triumphantly and begins playing the game.

Ralph hears the crashing in their room so he goes up to see what's happening, leaving Bonnie and Phil to talk to each other. Ralph walks up the stairs and into the two kids room. He sees Vanellope sitting on Josh, playing Sugar Rush, while Josh lays still playing the gameboy.  
"What are you guys doing?" Ralph asks. The two pause their games and look at him.  
"Playing games." Josh says.

"What are YOU doing?" Vanellope asks.

"I just came up to see what you two were doing." Vanellope looks at Josh. He looks back at her. They both look at Ralph.  
"Playing games." They say simultaneously. Ralph rolls his eyes and heads back downstairs.

"Sorry bout that. They're just being weird...again." Ralph says to the two.  
"Yes. Well me and Phil have been talking and we have thought of a...solution." Bonnie says. Ralph sits down and leans forward.

"And what would that be?" He asks.

"We take Joshua for a week and if he wants to stay, then we keep him, but if he wants to come back then we will take him back." Bonnie says. Ralph nods his head. Then turns towards the stairs. He calls Josh down. Both Josh and Vanellope run down the stairs.

"Not you Vanellope. You can go back upstairs." Ralph says. Vanellope crosses her arms and steps toward Josh, who just shrugs. Ralph shakes his head. "Okay. Whatever. Josh we have made a compromise." Josh sits down on the arm rest next to Ralph.  
"Well what is it?" He asks. Ralph rolls his hand towards Bonnie and Phil.  
"You can go stay with your parents for a week and if you don't like it there, they will take you back here." Josh looks towards Bonnie and Phil. He crosses his arms and thinks a moment.  
"Alright. I'll go."

* * *

A/N Family Time! Real Family Time!


	20. New Old Family

A/N I wonder what Josh is in for? Well I don't have to wonder. I kinda have an idea, about what's going to happen.

* * *

**_New old family_**

Josh throws his bag into the backseat, then shoves his suitcase into the trunk. His dad closes the trunk as Josh jumps into the backseat, next to his bag. Vanellope runs up to the car and knocks on the window. Josh presses the button to open the window. Slowly the window slides down. Josh groans as the window stops halfway down.

"Here. Just in case they don't have anything fun at their house." Vanellope says tossing the game-boy through the window. Josh smiles and catches it.

"Thanks. At least I'll have something to do this week." Josh says turning the game-boy on. Ralph walks over to the window and stick his arms through, handing Josh a piece of paper. Josh takes it and looks at it.

"It's the house number. You know, just in case you need to call or something." Ralph says. Josh nods and sticks the number in his bag.

"You better be back next week." Vanellope threatens. Josh nods his head. Phil and Bonnie get in the car. Phil starts it up.

"Alright who's ready for a road trip?" Bonnie asks excitedly.

"I am!" Phil says enthusiastically. Bonnie looks at Josh, who just shrugs. Bonnie sighs and turns forward. Phil begins driving down the road. Josh waves at the four through the window. They wave back. Josh expects them to walk back into the house, but they stand still. Josh doesn't know what happens once they get out of view. He turns his attention back to the game-boy.

Ralph claps his hands together.  
"Okay! Who wants to get something to eat?" He asks. They all walk towards the van and hop in. Calhoun gets in the drivers seat and starts it up. She drives them all to the nearest restaurant.

They eat their food in silence, not really knowing what to say.

"It's too quiet!" Vanellope yells. Ralph clasps is hand over her mouth and puts a finger up to his lips.

"We're right here. You don't need to yell." He says taking his hand off her mouth.

"Well it's too quiet!" She says. Ralph shakes his head.

"Well get use to it." He says before going back to his food. Vanellope sighs and hits her head on the table.

**_The Scott residents_**

Phil pulls up the driveway of their house. Bonnie looks back at Josh and sees that he has fallen asleep.

"Your going to have to carry him." Phil says stepping out of the car. Bonnie rolls her eyes and step out as well. She presses a button on her phone. The doors of the house open and a tall man dresses in a tuxedo walks out.

"What can I do for you madame?" The tuxedo man asks.

"Greetings Jenkins. We need you to carry Joshua into the house. Thank you." Bonnie says. Jenkins walks down the stairs, opens the door of the car and picks up Josh. "We also need you to take his luggage in after you take him to his room." Bonnie orders.

"Right away madame. I will do that." Jenkins says carrying Josh up the stairs. Jenkins enters the large house and carries Josh up the stairs into his room. He places Josh carefully on the bed, then exits to get his luggage. Phil and Bonnie walk to the kitchen to get some food.

"Aren't you excited? We can be a family again!" Bonnie chirps. Phil nods his head.

"I am. It's just he seemed to really like it there. What if he doesn't want to stay with us?"

"Oh pish posh. He is going to love it here! Don't you worry. You worry too much."

"I have to worry. You never do." Phil says. He opens the fridge door and pulls out a beer.

Jenkins walks into the kitchen arms folded behind his back.

"It appears young Joshua has disappeared. He is no longer in his room." Jenkins says. Phil sighs.

"Told ya. He's already gone." He says. Bonnie snaps her fingers.

"Don't worry. He's probably just gone to the washroom or is looking for the kitchen. He shan't be gone long." She says. Phil shakes his head.

"Let's go look for him Jenkins." Phil says walking out the door. Jenkins nods his head and follows Phil.

* * *

A/N Don't shoot! I know, I know. A short chapter, but the computer I use to type these during schools was being used.


	21. Wonderful Week With Wicked Wonders

A/N What's it called?

* * *

**_Wonderful Week With Wicked Wonders_**

Phil yells Josh's name as he and Jenkins walk the halls of the house. With no response they thought he had gone outside. They were wrong. Josh had gone to the bathroom. Still tired, he...fell asleep on the toilet.

Phil and Jenkins exit the house and begin circling it, looking for any sign of Josh. "There is no way in or out around the perimeter sire." Jenkins says. Phil let's out a sigh. "He could be simply...hiding." Phil nods his head. The two walk back into the house. Bonnie walks up the stairs, ready for bed.  
"I will be taking a shower, then heading to bed." Bonnie says. Phil gives her a thumbs up and heads into the living room.

Bonnie enters the bathroom and screams, making Josh wake up and fall off the toilet.  
"Oh...Joshua...you startled me." Bonnie says stepping out and closing the bathroom door. Phil runs up the stairs and stops next to Bonnie.  
"What is it?" He asks.  
"Joshua fell asleep on the toilet. I will be showering in our room." Bonnie says walking down the hall. Phil shakes his head and knocks on the bathroom door.  
"Josh? You in there?"  
"Yeah...I uhhh fell asleep for a while."

Josh washes his hands, opens the door, then steps out. "Question. How am I going to be going to school? I'm enrolled at Rushington elementary."  
"Ah! We can get you a tutor! Yes I remember seeing an ad. I can call her tomorrow." Phil says. Josh nods and heads back to bed. Phil turns and heads to his room.

**_The next day_**

Josh isn't entirely sure about Phil and Bonnie, but he decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. "What's the worst they can do?" He says into the mirror while combing his hair flat. Just as he begins brushing his teeth, Bonnie knocks on the door. "Joshua! Your tutor is here!" She says cheerfully. Josh spits out the toothpaste and exits the bathroom.

Bonnie takes Josh down the stairs to the front door. Josh hadn't realized how big the house was last night, from a mix of being extremely tired and being asleep when he was brought in. The stairs lead down to the foyer, which by itself is bigger than Josh's old quarters at the orphanage, the room where all the orphans slept. To the right of the door is the living room. Josh has yet to go in there. Same with the kitchen. Which is on the left of the entrance.

Bonnie leads Josh to the front of the door and stops him just a couple steps away. "Back straight." She orders. Josh straightens his back. "Feet together. What are you, an ostrich?" Josh shakes his head and places his feet together. "You got a little..." Bonnie licks her fingers and reaches for Josh's face.  
"Get off me woman!" Josh says pushing Bonnie's finger away.

"You have some dirt or something on your face. When was the last time you showered?" Josh tilts his head.  
"When did school start?" Bonnie sighs.  
"Okay! Let's just meet your tutor.

Bonnie opens the door and Josh's tutor steps in.  
"Hi! You must be Josh! My names Haley." She says extending her hand out. Josh is rendered speechless. It takes all of his effort just to take her hand, shake it. Unfortunately, he forgets to let go. Which works out fine for him.  
"Well you two can work in the living room." Bonnie points to the living room.

"Well let's go." Haley says leading Josh into the living room. "Sooo." Haley says sitting down on the couch. "What is your favorite subject?" She asks.  
"I dunno." Josh says slowly.  
"What are you best at?"  
"I dunno."  
"Okay...let's just try math." Haley says taking a math book out of her bag. She opens it and places it on Josh's lap.

Josh looks down at the numbers and letters...he narrows his eyes.  
"Letters? You got the wrong book." Josh says handing it back. Haley giggles, thinking Josh is joking.  
"No! It's called algebra."  
"Sounds painful." Haley laughs.  
"No! It's very easy. I promise."  
"Okay. I guess I can try..."

**_Wreckington residents_**

Ralph looks over Josh's file, wondering if he had missed anything. He spots something good. "Hey Felix! Guess what!" Ralph yells from his study. Felix waltzes into the room, wondering what Ralph has found.  
"What is it brother?"  
"Josh's birthday is this saturday" Ralph says passing the file to Felix.  
"Well I'll be a wet dog in a twister storm. Your right." Felix says. Ralph nods. "Think we should tell Bonnie and Phil?" Felix asks.  
"They probably know. Maybe that's why they chose this week. Do you think they'll invite us?" Ralph asks.

Felix hands the file back.  
"If they don't. I'm sure Josh will. We should go out to town and get him a present."  
"Great! Let's go then!" Ralph says standing up. Felix nods and walks out to get Calhoun. Ralph walks down the hall to get Vanellope.

Soon they're all in the van driving to the mall.

* * *

A/N Yay present shopping! Isn't it just the worst.


	22. Party Plans

A/N Time warp!

* * *

**_Party Plans_**

Josh waves at Haley as she walks down the walkway, out the gate. Then he closes the door. Slowly he smiles and runs toward the kitchen.  
"I'm in love." He says cartwheeling into the kitchen.  
"Don't be silly. She's sixteen." Bonnie says.  
"So? Thatès only a..." Josh counts his on fingers. "Six year difference."  
"Five year difference. Your turning eleven on Saturday." Phil says. Josh crosses his arms.  
"How do you know that? I didn't even know that."  
"Because I gave birth to you." Bonnie says. Josh shudders.  
"Yeah. Did not need that image. Thank you." Josh says walking out of the kitchen.

**_Shopping Center_**

"What does he like anyways?" Vanellope asks.  
"Hot sauce? He did love hot sauce when we went to Denny's." Ralph says.  
"Hot sauce? You want to get him hot sauce?" Calhoun asks.  
"Yes! A big bottle of hot sauce!" Vanellope says excitedly running further into store. Felix sighs and runs after her, followed slowly by Ralph and Calhoun.

They enter the grocery side of the mall and begin searching for the largest bottle of hot sauce they can find.  
"You have got to be kidding me." Calhoun says.  
"What? What's wrong with hot sauce?" Vanellope asks.  
"You're not really going to give Josh hot sauce." Vanellope looks at the large hot sauce bottle in her arms then shrugs.  
"I bet he's going to love it." She says walking towards the check out. Calhoun rolls her eyes.

"Better than nothing." Ralph says following Vanellope. Calhoun shakes her head.  
"Let's go get him a real present Felix" She says walking back to the shopping center. Felix quickly follows her.  
"What are we going to get him?" Felix asks.  
"A toy. Maybe a game. I don't know. What does an eleven year old like?" Calhoun says looking around at the different stores.

"How about clothes?" Felix asks.  
"Ralph got him a ton of clothes already. He doesn't need more." Calhoun says.  
"Books?"  
"Does he know how to read?"  
"I don't know. Probably." Felix says, trying to remember if he ever saw Josh read.  
"Well, let's get him some books then." Calhoun says heading for the book store.

Vanellope clutches the plastic bag to her chest as if to drop it would mean certain death. "Let's go find a box for this!" She says happily. Ralph nods, picks her up and heads for the nearest store.

**_Scott Residents_**

"Yes. Saturday. Thank you." Bonnie says before hanging up.  
"Who was that?" Josh asks closing the fridge door.  
"Just some entertainment for your party." Josh puts his plate on the table and sits down.  
"It better not be a clown. I hate clowns." He says. Bonnie sighs and picks up the phone again. She stands up and exits the room.  
"No tuxedos either!" Josh yells after her. Phil walks into the kitchen followed shortly by Jenkins.  
"What's that about tuxedos?" Phil asks.  
"I was telling Bonnie, no tuxedos at my party."  
"Why not? What about Jenkins?"

Josh looks at Jenkins, then at Phil.  
"Tuxedos are too rich for my blood. And no, Jenkins can't wear a tuxedo." Phil looks at Jenkins.  
"Jenkins doesn't have any other clothes." Phil says. Josh tilts his head.  
"Why not?"  
"He's a butler. What else is he going to wear." Josh crosses his arms and frowns.  
"That's pretty lame." Josh jumps off the chair and walks over to the two.

"Let's go Jenkins." Josh orders walking past them. Jenkins follows without question.  
"Where are you taking him?" Phil asks.  
"Shopping!" Josh yells from the foyer.

Jenkins follows Josh to the garage, into the car. Josh jumps into the passenger seat, while Jenkins starts the car. He pulls out of the garage, down the driveway, out the gate, onto the street. He begins driving to the mall.  
"You know Jenky, we have to get you out of those tuxedos." Josh says. He looks up at Jenkins, who's face remains emotionless. "Come on buddy. Loosen up a bit."  
"I am not payed to 'loosen' up sir." Jenkins says. Josh shakes his head.

"No...your payed to take orders. So...I order you to loosen up...like uhhh." Josh looks around the car. "Like this!" He says pushing the button to turn the radio on. Music begins playing on the radio. "Music is an awesome way to loosen up." Josh starts searching for a song to listen to. He quickly finds one, and starts nodding his head.

"Love. Is a burning thing. And it makes a fiery ring." Josh sings. Jenkins taps his hands on the steering wheel. "There you go. Now your getting it. Now your turn."  
"I couldn't sir." Jenkins says.  
"Josh! Just call me Josh. And yes you can. You haven't even tried yet."

Jenkins keep his mouth closed. Josh shakes his head. "Come on Jenkins. You know, you want to." Josh says, still nodding his head to the song. "I fell into a burning ring of fire. I went down, down, down, and the flames went higher!"  
"And it burns, burns ,burns." Jenkins sings, making Josh laugh.  
"Yeah! There you go! Alright, duet." Josh says. Jenkins nods his head.

"I fell into a burning ring of fire. I went down, down, down, and the flames went higher." Josh sings.  
"And it burns burns burns. The ring of fire. The ring of fire!" Jenkins sings.  
"The taste of love is sweet!" Josh sings.  
"When hearts, like ours meet!"  
"I fell for you like a child!"  
"Ohhhh but the fire went wild!" Jenkins sings. Together they sing, "I fell into a burning ring of fire. I went down, down, down. And the flames went higher. And it burns, burns, burns. The ring of fire. The ring of fire." Josh starts laughing.

He wipes some tears from his eye. "You know Jenkins, this is going to be an amazing friendship."

* * *

A/N Yay! Butler, kid bonding!


	23. Long Time No See

A/N I'm running out of things to talk about.

* * *

**_Long Time No See_**

"I feel ridiculous." Jenkins says.  
"But you look awesome." Josh says. Jenkins takes his oversized jacket off and hands it to Josh.  
"These do not suit me."  
"Uhh. They look amazing on you! Your like a gangster. I can call you, Jenkin G."  
"Jenkin G?"  
"Yeah! You can be like, 'Livin in a Jenkin G paradise,' or something awesome like that." Josh says, making Jenkins chuckle.  
"I couldn't master J."  
"Josh..seriously. Just call me Josh."

Josh hands Jenkins another jacket. Jenkins begins putting it on, but stops when he notices Calhoun looking at Josh.  
"May we help you madame?" Jenkins asks. Josh turns around and sees Calhoun standing there. Without hesitating, Josh runs over and jumps onto her.  
"Hey Tammy!" Josh says happily, squeezing his arms around her.  
"Heyyyy...squirt." Calhoun says, awkwardly patting his head.  
"Oh howdy Josh!" Felix says stepping next to the two.

"Hey Felix!" Josh says still holding onto Calhoun.  
"You've only been gone a day." Calhoun says. Josh nods his head.  
"I know. I just missed you guys. It's REALLY boring at Bonnie and Phil's house."  
"Phil and Bonnie?" Calhoun says. Josh nods his head. "Why don't you call them mom and dad?"  
"It just doesn't feel right. Honestly, you guys are more like parents than they are." Calhoun goes silent, but wraps an arm around Josh's head. He closes his eyes and smiles, burying his head into her stomach.

Calhoun looks down at Felix, as he sways back and forth on his feet, with the goofiest grin she has ever seen. She rolls her eyes and looks at Jenkins.  
"Who are you?" She asks.  
"Names Jenkin G yo." Jenkins says while crossing his arms.  
"He's my butler." Josh says looking up at Calhoun.  
"Butler? Your parents got you a butler?" She asks.  
"Well no, but they had him. All he had was tuxedos, so I'm taking him shopping."

Calhoun nods her head. "Well. It's nice to meet you!" Felix says extending a hand to Jenkins. He takes it and shakes Felix's hand.  
"The pleasure is all mine." Jenkins says.  
"So what are you guys doing here?" Josh asks.  
"We were getting your present." Felix says.  
"Present? Present for what?"  
"Your birthday present." Calhoun says. Josh gets a big grin on his face.  
"What did you get me? What did you get me?" He asks hopping on his feet.  
"Secret. You'll have to wait."

Josh frowns. "Come on! Tell me!" He says climbing onto Calhoun's back. She shakes her head. "Tell me! Come on! You can tell me! I won't spoil it!" Josh wraps his arms around Calhoun's head. "Tell me." He whispers.  
"No." Calhoun says taking Josh off her shoulders.  
"Please! Please! Please!" Josh begs. Calhoun shakes her head. "You guys are just the worst." Josh says crossing his arms.  
"Yeah yeah. When's the party?" Calhoun asks.  
"Saturday I think. That's when Bonnie tried telling the clown to be there." Josh tells her.  
"A clown? She got you a clown?"  
"Tried. Tried getting me a clown."

Calhoun nods her head. "Joshua, it is getting late. Your parents will expect you home soon." Jenkins says. Josh sighs.  
"Well. I guess, I'll see you guys later." Josh says letting go of Calhoun. He walks past them, stops, then waves Jenkins over. Jenkins begins walking over, but stops in front of the two. He bows, then follows Josh.

Calhoun blows her bangs out of her face and walks further into the store, followed by Felix.  
"Books, clothes, what else can we get him?" Felix asks. He gets no response, so he looks up at her. Face as solid as stone. Most who look at her would assume she's angry, but Felix can see past that. He can see what she's feeling, that's how it goes. "What's buggin you?" He asks.  
"Nothing." Calhoun spits. Felix tilts his head.  
"Come on Tammy. I know, somethings bothering you."

Calhoun stops walking, then looks down at Felix. "It's Josh." She says folding her arms and cupping her elbows.  
"What about Josh?" Felix asks. Calhoun shakes her head and keeps walking, still holding her arms. Felix quickly follows her.

Josh walks in front of Jenkins, hands in pocket, head dow, shoulders curled forward.  
"JOSH!" Vanellope yells jumping onto his back, knocking him onto the ground.  
"Oh hey Vanellope!" Josh says turning his head towards her.  
"What are you doing here?" She asks.  
"I was just taking Jenkins shopping."  
"Who's Jenkins? This guy?" Vanellope looks up at Jenkins.

"Hello madame." Jenkins says bowing to Vanellope.  
"Hey weird guy. What are you doing with Josh?"  
"He's a butler." Josh says.  
"A butler? Cool."  
"Yeah. Can you get off me now?" Josh asks. Vanellope jumps to her feet, then helps Josh up.  
"Is that Josh?" Ralph asks. Josh turns his head to look at him.  
"Yes. It is I." Josh says shoving his hands back into his pocket. Ralph steps in front of him and kneels down.  
"What are you doing here?" He asks. Josh rolls his eyes.  
"I've already told Tammy, Felix, and Vanellope. I'm taking this butler clothes shopping!"

Ralph looks over at Jenkins, who just bows. "That's uhhh cool." Josh nods his head.  
"Yes. What are you guys doing here? Are you getting me a preset too?"  
"Yes. We got you a..." Ralph begins. Vanellope punches Ralph in the shoulder, silencing him.  
"It's a secret!" Vanellope says. Josh snakes his head and blows his bangs out of his face.  
"All you guys and your secrets." Josh begins walking away, but stops and turns.  
"Almost forgot. You guys need to know where the house is." Josh thinks for a moment. "I don't know the address." He says.  
"Down the road. The large white house on 8079 East Niceland boulevard." Jenkins says. Josh nods his head.

"Yeah. So I'll see you guys at the party?" Josh asks.  
"Yes! It's gonna be awesome!" Vanellope says hugging Josh. He gently pushes her away.  
"Yeah. It is." He says. Vanellope crosses her arms.  
"So we'll see you then." Ralph says picking up Vanellope. Josh nods his head.  
"Yeah. Then." Josh says.  
"We really must be going." Jenkins says. Josh nods again.  
"Okay. I'll see you guys later." Josh says walking towards the car, followed by Jenkins.


	24. Teamwork

**_Teamwork_**

"Wreckington?" Mr Sours said in his usual slow, uncaring voice. He looked up from his clipboard to scan the classroom. Of course there was no response, with Josh being at his parents house. "Wreckington?" Mr Sours repeated still looking around the class room. The kids began looking around at all the desks. After a minute of no response, the kids returned their attention to Mr Sours. He looked down at his clipboard for a moment, before looking back at the class. "Wrackington?" He said a little more clearly, making the class groan together.

"Seriously!" Jack yelled. "You've done this the past two days! He's not here!" Mr Sours scribbled another X next to Josh's name, then returned his clipboard into his desk drawer.

Sarah looked at Josh's empty desk, wondering where he has been the past three days. She pulled out her notebook to continue her drawing.

"Sarah!" Vanellope whispered quite loudly. Sarah looked up from her notebook. Vanellope waved Sarah from the window next to the door. Sarah shook her head, not wanting to leave the classroom. Vanellope rolled her eyes and walked into the class room, not caring if Mr Sours saw her.

"Sarah!" Vanellope said with some urgency.

"What can I do for you?" Sarah asked looking up.

"Come on! A bunch of us are getting together."

"Together for what?" Sarah asked looking behind Vanellope, she saw that Rancis, and Gloyd stood in the hallway.

"Excuse me. We are in the middle of class." Mr Sours said at Vanellope.

"Well no duh! But I need to take Sarah with me."

"Be my guest." Mr Sours said turning his attention back to the class.

Vanellope grabbed Sarah's hand and dragged her out of the class room. Sarah barely managed to grab her notebook full of drawings to take it with her.

"Where are we going?" Sarah asked as Vanellope slowed down to a brisk walk, still dragging her.

"To the jungle gym." Vanellope had told her peeking around the corner, making sure no teachers were around.

"We have to plan something awesome for Josh's birthday party tomorrow!" Gloyd said from behind Sarah.

This had surprised Sarah. She didn't know it was going to be Josh's birthday, let alone it was tomorrow. She didn't even know that Josh was friends with Gloyd and Rancis. She slapped herself mentally and made a note for herself. "Get to know Josh's better." She had thought.

Before she knew it, Vanellope already had her outside, at the jungle gym. "So why here?" Sarah asked while sitting on one of the swings.

"Best place." Rancis said.

"Out of sight from the principals office." Gloyd continued.

"And we all know where it is." Taffyta finished. The four looked at her, a little startled by her appearance.

"Sorry." Candlehead said stepping beside Taffyta. "She made me tell her."

"What do you want?" Vanellope asked, crossing her arms.

"I heard about this 'party' and wanted to ask, why is it so special?" Taffyta said stepping in front of the half-circled group.

"It's Josh's first birthday party." Vanellope told her.

"First birthday party? Is he turning one?" Candlehead asked tilting her head in confusion. The entire group looked at her.

"Did you just ask if he was turning one?" Gloyd asked, wondering if she was serious. Candlehead nodded her head. Vanellope sighed and placed a hand on Cadlehead's shoulder.

"I worry about you sometimes Candle. I do." She said with some actual worry in her voice. Candlehead shrugged her hand off, ready to defend herself.

"It's a good question! You said it was his first birthday!" She said, crossing her arms. "Party." First birthday party." Gloyd said as he tilted his head up.

"Who hasn't had a birthday party before?" Taffyta asked, trying to get back on topic.

"Josh. Josh hasn't." Vanellope said.

"You've had birthday parties. Why hasn't he? Does your dad like you better or something?"

"He's not my brother."

"So how do you know he hasn't had a party before? Do you like, stalk him or something?" Taffyta asked, crossing her arms. Vanellope clenched her fists, as she stepped forward.

"No. I do not stalk him." She growled.

Taffyta stepped forward as well. "Then your just weird. How did you find out he hasn't had a party? You must be crazy about him." Vanellope was already tired of Taffyta.

"It's like you want to be punched in the face!" Vanellope said, trying to sound as tough as possible. Taffyta was stunned for a second, but quickly regained her composure.

"Its just a birthday party! It's not that special!"

"It is for Josh! It's his first!"

Taffyta huffed out a breath, then tried sitting down on one of the swings, but Vanellope kicked the swing away at the last second, making her fall onto the ground. "Sheesh. You are his sister." Taffyta said standing up.

"He's not my brother!"

"Coulda fooled me. Your both annoying, dumb and have the same stupid look!"

"They don't look alike." Rancis said, making Taffyta look at him.

"Yes they do! They both have the same stupid hair, and the blank stupid eyes."

"No they don't. Josh has green eyes. Vanellope has brown eyes."

"No. Her eyes are green too!" Taffyta said pointing at Vanellope. Rancis grabbed Vanellope's chin and turned her head towards Taffyta.

"No. See. Her eyes are brown."

"They are green." Taffyta said slapping Rancis' hand, making him let go.

"They are brown."

"Green."

"Brown."

"They're hazel." Sarah said, hating all the fighting. Gloyd stepped between the two blondes, in front of Vanellope. He looked Vanellope in the eyes and squinted.

"Yup. Those are hazel alright." He said, stepping back. Taffyta crossed her arms and turned her head away.

"What ah ever." She said.

"Can we please just get back on topic?" Sarah asked closing her notebook.

"Right. Josh's party. We have to plan something..." Vanellope stopped, to look at Taffyta. "And your still here because...?"

"Uh hello! Who wouldn't want me at their party?" Taffyta said making Vanellope roll her eyes.

"Josh and me wouldn't. That's for sure."

"Sorry Taffyta, but I wouldn't either." Sarah said.

"Why not? I'm great!"

"All you ever want to talk about is clothes and boys."

"Well what else is there to talk about?"

"Cars. Money." Vanellope said.

"Art. Music." Sarah continued.

"Candy. Pranks." Gloyd said.

"Fire. Stuff on fire." Candlehead said.

"Hair cuts. Good hair cuts." Rancis said. Taffyta tilted her head up.

"Fine. But I'm still staying. I'm a great party planner."

"Fine. Just don't give us any lame ideas" Vanellope said.

A/N A little dialogue heavy. Hope you didn't mind.


	25. First World Problems

_**First World Problems**_

"Ohhhhh happy birthday to you!" Bonnie sang as she bursted into Josh's room. A pillow hit her in the face, knocking her back out of the room. "Not the reaction I was expecting." She said opening the door, walking back in.

"I wasn't dressed!" Josh yelled from the bathroom.

"How did you get in there so fast?"

"I can move really, really fast." Josh said walking out of the bathroom, hair combed, clothes matched.

"Well. That's great! Happy birthday! Your eleven years old! How do you feel?"

"Like I'm still ten. I don't feel different at all."

"Well don't worry! That will all change very soon! Oooo I'm excited. Your party is going to be fabulous!" Josh couldn't help but notice that Bonnie seemed to be more excited about the party than he was, but as long as there was food, he would be okay with it.

"Jenkins placed breakfast on the table. Try not to make too much noise. Your father is working in his office." Bonnie said before leaving. Josh thought for a second. He had no idea what Phil did for a living. _If he's working, then I could find out now_. He though to himself, as he exited his room.

Josh wandered the house, searching for Phil's office. A large wooden door at the end of the hall had caught his attention. Josh walked quietly, towards the door. All he could hear was Phil, cursing to himself. Not even knocking, Josh entered Phil's office.

"Oh. Hey Josh." Phil said, all previous anger gone.

"Hey Phil." Josh said before blowing his bangs away. Awkward silence filled the room. Josh stood stiffly in the door way, holding his arm. While Phil watched him do so.

"What can I do for you?" Phil asked, trying to break the silence. Josh shook his head.

"Nothing. Just wondering what your doing."

"Thinking of my next big invention." Phil said picking up his pencil again. Josh's ears perked up.

"Invention? You invent things?"

"Well yeah. Where do you think all the money comes from?"

"I thought you just had a bunch of trees or something." Phil looked up from his blueprint, confused slightly.

"Trees? What do you mean by trees?" He asked.

"Well Tommy told me that you can make money from trees." Josh explained slightly. Phil still looked confused, but Josh couldn't explain it much further; seeing as how that's all Tommy had told him.

"No. I just created some useful items. Make peoples life easier, things like that." Josh nodded his head, before he walked to the front of the desk and sat down in the large wooden chair.

He noticed a weird wrap sitting on a plate. Something he had never seen before.

"What's that?" He asked poking the wrap.

"It's a burrito. You can have it, if you want." Phil said, as he turned his attention back to the blueprint.

Carefully, Josh picked the burrito up, examined it slowly. Unfortunately, as Josh turned the burrito over, the wrap came undone, allowing the burrito innards to spill onto the desk.

"Oh crud. I'm sorry." Josh said jumping back, pushing the chair away.

"No problem. I'll have someone clean it up." Phil said wiping some beef off his blueprint.

"I'll just..." Josh went silent, exited the room as quickly as possible.

Outside the room, Josh stopped as an idea hit him. He turned around, then entered the room again.

"Edible staples." He said, as he jumped back in front of the desk.

"Edible staples?" Phil asked, keeping his attention on the blueprint. Josh nodded his head.

"Yes! Edible staples!"

"What would you do with edible staples?"

Josh pinched the burrito wrap, held it up, in front of Phil.

"You could use it to hold your burritos together! You could like...uh you could say..." Josh dropped the burrito wrap to think. After a minute, Josh snapped his fingers. "Don't you hate when your burritos fall apart?" Josh said picking the burrito wrap back up. Phil looked up from his blueprint. "Well now, you don't have to worry! With edible staples!" Josh placed the burrito wrap down flatly, picked up the beef and beans from the table, then threw them onto the wrap. Within a couple minutes, the burrito was sloppily wrapped again. Josh then took the stapler from the desk and stapled the burrito shut.

"Okay. You can't eat this, but you get the idea. Right?" Josh asked flipping the burrito in his hand. Phil nodded his head.

"Not bad. Not bad at all." He said taking the burrito from Josh.

"Well. I'll just..." Josh went silent again, then walked out of the room. Phil kept examining the burrito, wondering how Josh thought of it.

Josh walked down the stairs, wondering what to do next. The door bell, reminded him that Haley was here.

"I got it! I got it!" He yelled breaking into a sprint down the stairs. As Josh reached the door, Haley opened it, hitting Josh on the nose, and knocking him onto the ground."Owwww." Josh groaned, sitting up, clenching his nose shut.

"Oh, sorry, little buddy." Haley said helping Josh up. She pulled her hand away and looked at it. "Uhh. What's the brown stuff on your hand?"

"Oh! Sorry. That's just...well whatever's in a burrito." Josh stammered. With a sigh he said; "Its a long story."

Haley took a napkin out of her purse, and wiped some blood off of Josh's shirt. She handed him a couple more.

"Put these in your nose." She ordered. Josh did without question.

With a clogged nose, he said; "Thank you." He quickly hid behind his bangs, knowing how stupid he sounded.

"You should wash you hands..." Haley said, walking to the living room.

"That was just dreadful Joshua." Jenkins said stepping next to Josh.

"Shut up Jenkins...I know." Josh said turning towards the kitchen


	26. Party Poopers

A/N I'm just gonna...leave this here...

Josh didn't even liked being looked at, let alone being the center of attention. Every few minutes Josh had someone walk up to him and wish him a "happy birthday!" he quickly tired of this, and retreated to the top of the stairs for some privacy, while still able to watch the party.

"You know birthday parties, usually need the birthday person at them. Otherwise, its just a party...actually that's not that bad." Taffyta said, standing above Josh.

"I don't like people..." Josh said, not looking up, but keeping his attention on the party.

"Why not? What did people ever do to you?"

Josh rubbed his back, over his scars. He couldn't exactly tell her. Well he could, but didn't want to tell her. Did she know he was adopted? Rancis knew. Gene knew. How did they find out? Who would know? Did Vanellope tell them? Josh didn't want to be known as "That Adopted Kid." He needed to make a name for himself. Good or bad.

"Helloooo earth to Josh!" Taffyta said, waving her hand near his face.

"Oh. Sorry...Taffyta?" Josh shook his head. Then thought to himself; "Taffyta? What kind of name was Taffyta?" He could stand Rancis, even Gloyd, but Taffyta? Who would name their kid Taffyta? Who named him? Did his parents name him Josh? Or Betty. Josh shuddered at that. He didn't want to named by her. Again lost in his own thoughts, Josh didn't notice that Taffyta left, and Sarah had replaced her.

"Uhhh. Hey." Sarah finally said, after several minutes of silence. Josh turned his head to her. He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Still stunned by this girl. Sarah held out a picture frame, keeping her head down, eyes closed as if she were embarrassed by the gift. Josh took it, then looked at the picture in it. It wasn't a picture though. Rather it was a drawing. A very well done drawing, of Josh, sitting in math class, leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling.

"This...this is amazing." Josh said, smiling. Sarah shook her head.

"I didn't even get to color it." She said, rubbing her arm. As she looked at the ground, Sarah said; "I would have, but I didn't find out about your birthday until yesterday."

"So all you got to do was draw it." Josh said, rather surprised. "You drew this in one day?" He asked.

"Well...no." She said quietly. "I was already drawing it..." Josh thought for a moment.

"But...you just found out yesterday..." He said, tilting his head, slightly confused.

"Yeah...pfttt...I was going to...give it to you anyways...even before your birthday.." She lied, very unconvincingly. Josh shook his head, smiling.

"I'll teach you how to lie later." Josh said, patting her on the back. He returned his attention back to the picture, admiring the talent of his accidental friend.

"You should put it in your room?" Sarah suggested not entirely sure of thats how she should have said it. Josh nodded his head in agreement.

"Yeah. I'll do that now." And with that, Josh was on his feet, walking to his room. Sarah quickly waved Candlehead up the stairs. Once she reached the top, Sarah pointed at Josh. Candlehead nodded and quickly followed Josh to his room. Sarah peered down the stairs and gave a thumbs up to Gloyd and Rancis. The two returned the gesture and ran outside.

Josh placed the picture on his end table. He took a moment to adjust it, so it would face his bed.

"Heya!" Candlehead chimed, startling Josh, and sending him over the bed, frightened to no end. "Oh I'm sorry!" Candlehead nearly yelled, jumping onto the bed to look at Josh. "I didn't mean to scare you."

Josh wave it off, as he stood up. Acting as if nothing happened, and wanting desperately not to get on the subject, he gently grabbed one of Candlehead's pigtails and rolled it in between his fingers.

"I've been meaning to ask..." Josh trailed off for a second, playing with her hair. "Is this your real hair color?" He focused intently on her hair, managing to actually distract Candlehead. After a moment of silence, she nodded her head.

"Yes." She squeaked, quietly. She quickly coughed, covering up her awkwardness. "Its my real hair color." She said a with extra confidence.

"That...is amazing." Josh finally let go of her hair and made his way back to the door of his room, intent on returning to the party, which he had missed a majority of. Candlehead nodded her head slowly, trying to remember what she was suppose to do.

Josh blew his bangs out of his face as he walked towards the stairs. He really needed a haircut, but he didn't want one. Bonnie wouldn't stop nagging him all week about his...

"Hippie hair." Bonnie huffed, pushing Josh's hair out of his face. He pushed her hand away, allowing his hair to fall to it's normal position.

"I don't need a hair cut." Josh stated, turning to walk down the stairs. Bonnie sighed out of frustration, and retired to her room, not even willing to wait until the cake was eaten, and the presents opened.

Calhoun spotted Josh making his way down the stairs, hands in pocket, hair in face. She decided to greet him, and wish him a happy birthday. Not her best idea.

"Hey." She said coldly, stepping into Josh's path. Josh looked up, blowing some hair out of his face.

"Hey Tam." He whispered, giving her a weak smile. Calhoun raised her eyebrow, as Josh blew some more hair out of his face. She placed a hand on his forehead.

"You need a haircut." She told him, pushing some hair back. She didn't really care, but it seemed to be bugging him, which it wasn't.

"Y-you think so?" He asked, straightening his back. Calhoun gave him a quick nod of her head.

"Yeah. It's getting pretty long." She said, returning her hand to her side. Josh began pulling at his hair, now wishing it was shorter. He may not care what Bonnie thought, but Calhoun's approval was something he needed. And he didn't know why.

"Well...I don't really know anybody that could cut it." He said looking up at her. Calhoun shrugged, then threw her hand at Felix, attempting to point at him.

"He's cut hair before." She said, looking back at Josh. Calhoun didn't bother to add that he cut hers and Vanellope's hair. Never Ralph's or any other males. Josh shrugged, mimicking Calhoun's movements.

"Okay..." Josh paused to think, but shook his head. "Yeah. He can cut my hair. When I come back, of course." There was no way Josh was going to stay here. Of course it'd break Bonnie and Phil's hearts, maybe even Jenkins, but Josh was starting to like the core four. Calhoun gave a curt nod, then headed back into the party. Josh had yet to see Ralph and Vanellope. Or even Gloyd and Rancis. The people he wanted to see, were no where to be found. Josh didn't have friends within his parents groups. So most of the people at the party were their friends, not his. Nevertheless, he attempted to enjoy himself, smiling when needed, thanking people, receiving presents. All of it. While outside the house, two new friends were waiting for their signal.

Gloyd and Rancis stood outside Josh's bedroom door window, wondering what was taking Candlehead so long.

"Sheesh...how long does it take to get someone to look out a window?" Rancis asked, pulling up his sleeve to look at his Mickey-mouse watch. "She was supposed to have him there five minutes ago."

Gloyd rolled his eyes. "Oh don't worry, if she couldn't get him to look out the window, then we could always go to plan B." He told Rancis, sitting down on the grass.

"And what would plan B...be?" Rancis asked, looking down at Gloyd.

"I...don't actually know." Gloyd admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. He shook his head, to clear his mind. "Don't worry. I'll think of something."

Vanellope looked at the clock on the wall, wondering what went wrong. And who caused the delay. As she was about to walk away, and go find Josh, he squeezed out of a cluster of people, grunting in the process. He saw Vanellope, and his mood shifted, from posh, and proper, to his usual fun loving self.

"Hey Van." Josh chirped, skipping in front of her. She didn't respond, and only jumped onto Josh, forcing him onto the ground. She wrestled him onto his back, and pinned his arms down. Once they were on the ground, Vanellope couldn't stop giggling.

"Wow. Your'e weaker than you look." She teased, sitting down on his stomach. By now everyone was watching, as Josh glared at Vanellope, and she only watched him, smirk plastered on her face.

"Not exactly the hello I was expecting." Josh said, sitting up, pushing Vanellope off him. There was now no one dancing, or eating. All the attention was turned to the two.

"Well, what the heck are you doing here?" Vanellope asked, jumping to her feet.

"This is my birthday party." Josh said, as he dusted himself off. "Where else would I be?"

"I dunno. Thought Candlehead woulda had you in your room by now." Vanellope told Josh, as she turned on her heels. Josh narrowed his eyes in suspicion. He quickly jumped to his feet, and followed Vanellope. Just what she wanted him to do.


End file.
